The End of All Things: Twilight Princess
by Debochira
Summary: One young man must venture through the cosmos to save all of reality. He will ally with a shadow imp, a ghostly spartan, an engineer, and a super soldier to achieve this goal, but how can he defeat the evil when that same evil is himself? Multi-story Crossover with Legend of Zelda, God of War, Dead Space, and Halo. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Meeting of the Goddesses

It was a rainy Saturday evening, and there I was, on my computer like a good 19-year-old schmuck with no future. Typing away at some stupid writing assignment, I of course drifted off to think about other things.

Where was I going?

What was I doing?

Why haven't I done anything?

So many questions my parents and I asked myself, but I had no answers. All I could think about was video games, the damn video games that I grew to love more than family or friends. It wasn't my fault they were good games!

_The Legend of Zelda, God of War, Dead Space, _and_ Halo, _all of them drew me in with their stories and characters, the music and action, even the sadness and loss. I admired Link's courage, Kratos' strength, Isaac Clarke's ingenuity, and Master Chief's luck. They were the mentors who taught me to fight, to love, to stand.

Such a dreary existence I had, it had no excitement, no adventure. I wanted so badly to vanish into my games and live out the rest of my life in them, to feel the warmth of the Gerudo Mesa, to climb the heights of Mount Olympus, to explore the depths of the Sprawl on Titan Station, to sail the stars and discover the seven Halo Installations.

Yes, I had such dreams of grandeur. I had no future here on Earth, in this time, in this place. No, my destiny lay elsewhere, in the codes and programming of video games. Well, that was what I wanted to believe.

I continued typing away, not realizing that the lights around me had gone out. I could hear footsteps resounding above my head and assumed it was my parents or brother coming down to the basement to use the TV. As I clicked the 'Save' button for the document, I heard a very distinct voice echo above me. It was female, yet sounded daring and youthful. My mother could be daring, sure, but she was not youthful, as much as I hated to think it. Another voice echoed down, and I understood it to be female as well but older and with the authority of a regent or monarch. Just as I was about to dismiss the voices as my thoughts only, a third voice met my ears. Female again, with a hint of knowledge beyond her presumed years. I could hear their voices faintly, but I could not discern the words.

_Great, a trio of women is robbing me, _I thought to myself. With a shrug, I rose from my computer desk at the bottom of the stairs and made my way up, only to stop when I heard a clear sentence from the intelligent-sounding voice.

"He thinks we're robbers. He won't trust us."

That sentence made my mind go blank. She had just vocalized what I was thinking! I shook my head and convinced myself that I just said that thought aloud. With a new spur of energy, I emerged from the stairs and walked into the kitchen, noticing but ignoring the three women seated in the living room across the way.

_If I die, I'll at least have something to eat first._

As I opened the fridge, I heard a faint scoff from the living room, but ignored it as I pulled out the grape jelly. I closed the door and stepped over to the pantry when I heard the authoritative voice. Though she tried to whisper, it was difficult with such a commanding tone.

"He assumes too much. How do you know he'll be willing to do it, Farore?"

That caught my attention. I slowly put the peanut butter back as the chipper voice replied, "I trust him, Sister Din. There's more to him than you or even he knows."

I couldn't help but smile a little. I've never met those women and yet they were gossiping about me like schoolgirls. One was even vouching for me! I replaced the jelly and stepped outside the kitchen to find a young girl standing right there, which caused me to jump in surprise.

She seemed no older than ten, maybe twelve years old at the most, with mildly tanned skin and freckles atop her nose. Her hair was down to her shoulders and was a beautiful emerald shade and every strand seemed to be comprised of the jewel itself. Her eyes were a similar color and were wide with curiosity as her thin lips widened into a fearless grin. She wore what seemed like adventure gear, with tan cargo pants tucked into brown knee-high boots, and a dark green T-shirt under a brown leather jacket with a bandolier around her chest.

She giggled at my reaction and stretched out her childish hand in greeting.

"Hi! I'm Farore!" she chirped.

With one brow raised, I shook her hand gently but she had other plans, as she began to drag me past the dining room and into the living room. I began to marvel at the girl's strength until I saw the other two women seated on the red velvet love seat.

One had ruby hair that reached down just past her collarbone, and again seemed to be millions of slivers of the gem. Her eyes matched the shade of her hair as she glared passively at me. She wore a deep red poet shirt beneath a regal gold vest and an ankle-length black dress bottom, with black pumps underneath. Her skin was tan, nearly bronze, and was perfectly smooth, save for a beauty mark just above her left eyebrow, and her lips glistened with red lipstick and pursed to show her disapproval at me.

The other woman had sapphire hair, with a similar sheen and shine to her companions, though hers sat in a ponytail with bangs draping over eyes that again matched her hair. She wore a sleeveless navy blue poet shirt above a long-sleeved gray T-shirt with a white scarf wrapped around her slender neck, black slacks, and finally dark gray booties. Her skin was fair and pale, with lips set in a gentle smile of understanding.

Since her hair was pulled back unlike the others, I could see that her ears were very pointed and elf-like. The green-haired girl, Farore, tugged at my arm and plopped me down on the couch across from the love seat, with a crisp fire burning to my left in the fireplace.

As I observed the two women across from me, the chipper little girl kept bouncing in her seat as the others studied me as well. There wasn't much to study; I consider myself a fairly average guy. I was wearing a brown T-shirt beneath a faded blue hooded shirt, black denims, and simple socks. Atop my nose was a pair of thin glasses and upon my left wrist was a black leather analogue watch, showing the time as 10:37. My hair was dark brown and cut very short, though I did regret it whenever I went out in the cold. Decently built, I had broad shoulders and a thick chest, but I was not very muscular, only enough to intimidate cowards but not enough to back up the bravado.

Of course, I had no idea that would change.

After a seeming eternity, the redhead cleared her throat and spoke up, her voice even more regal up close.

"You seem calm for someone whose home has been intruded upon."

I blinked and turned to look at Farore with a raised brow. She smiled brightly, showing a slight gap between her two front teeth. Then I realized why her name sounded so familiar.

"You said your name was Farore, right?" I asked.

She nodded eagerly, never losing that slightly adorable smile. I turned to the redhead and narrowed my eyes slightly.

"Sister Din, I presume?"

Din nodded once as she continued to burn holes through my head.

Now that I had a stable hypothesis, I decided to perform an experiment and turned my attention to the blue-haired woman.

"I suppose your name is Nayru."

It was not a question as much as a realization. She nodded with a graceful smile and extended her hand. I shook it gently and was surprised at the warmth of her skin and strength of her grip.

Seeing as I was supposedly in the presence of the Three Golden Goddesses, I decided to be the smooth charmer I never was and kissed the back of Nayru's hand. I was again surprised by how warm and smooth her skin was as Farore giggled at my show of suave.

I released her hand and leaned back in my seat, then began mulling over my thoughts. It all seemed so surreal, to have two beautiful women and a young girl in my living room, even if they were out of their minds with the _Zelda _themed dress up party. I was good at being rational despite most circumstances, so I came up with three explanations: This was all a dream and I was asleep at my computer desk, these women broke in to rob me and distract me with the getup while they did so, or these women were **the **Golden Goddesses of the Triforce.

_If you can hear my thoughts, say applesauce, _I said in my mind. If they could read my mind, maybe the third explanation wouldn't be so—

"Applesauce," all three said.

My eyebrow shot up as I surveyed the three. 'Farore' giggled and moved down to sit on the floor between 'Din' and 'Nayru', both of whom had knowing smiles on their faces, though one was more condescending than the other.

_One more test, _I thought, and moved my hands behind my back with three fingers raised.

With a mischievous smirk, I asked, "How many fingers am I holding up?"

'Din' scoffed and pointed an accusing finger at me as she said, "We will not waste our time with these games!"

"Hey, if you can't do it, no sweat—"

"Three. Two. Nine. Seven. Five. One. Four."

Not only did all three speak at the exact same time with the exact same pace, they were right the whole time. I was never one to give up, so I tried one more time with a vigorous shake of my hands.

"How many now?" I asked with eight fingers raised, but I quickly drew in the fingers on my left hand.

'Nayru' was the only one to speak as she said, "Eight."

Victorious in my deception, I raised my right hand in triumph to show off the five I was holding. They may be psychic, but they couldn't just grow new fingers on people!

That was when I noticed I had three extra fingers wedged between the knuckles of my natural four. With a girlish whimper, I shook my hand to discard the appendages.

_Okay, so the second theory is out. I'm either dreaming, these are the actual Goddesses, or the Goddesses are visiting me but in a dream._

Din cleared her throat and said, "This is no dream. I assure you that we are as real as the clothes you wear."

With a sigh as I saw that my hand was back to normal, I turned back to Din and shrugged slightly as I slapped myself in the face. I waited several seconds for the sting to wear off, and when it did, I was still on the couch facing the Golden Goddesses themselves.

"Not a dream, got it," I said. I couldn't deny evidence like that no matter how crazy the whole thing was. Now that I accepted the fact that I was in the presence of **the **Golden Goddesses, I felt two separate urges; one begged me to kneel down and pay respect, the other had a question for them. I decided to forgo the kneeling and ask the question instead.

"Why are you here?"

The Three lowered their heads and turned solemn and almost bitter. Even Farore lost her cheeriness.

Nayru locked eyes with me and said, "We need your help."

My eyes widened at that, and I could feel a slight dizziness in my head.

"What do you need help with?" I asked, though I was starting to get nervous about why I had three deities sitting in my living room with me. More importantly, I was getting nervous because these three deities should be _fictional._ They belonged to the _Legend of Zelda _franchise, not the real world.

"You are correct, Zach. We should be fictional," said Din, her glare softening but her voice still imposing. "We cannot explain everything to you, for your mind cannot comprehend the wealth of information."

_Gee, thanks._

Nayru frowned and said, "Suffice to say that this universe is one of trillions upon trillions of others. Our universe exists in reality, as does any other story you have ever heard of, seen, or even thought of. When someone writes a story in this universe, it is because that universe has managed to make contact, however unintentional, with that person. The same is true of all other universes. In ours, there are stories about you and your life. Every story, movie, television show, video game, and comic book exists at the same time in different universes. There _is _an actual Goku, there _is _an actual Necronomicon ex Mortis, and there _is _a Debo and his land of Amasea."

Now I knew I was going crazy. I was in the process of writing a novel, with a character named Debo and a world called Amasea. I kept the project to myself, so no one could possibly have known anything about it.

Farore pouted and scooted closer to me. She sat up and held my hand in hers. Her skin was just as warm as Nayru's but much smaller because of her childlike stature.

"The universes are all in great danger," she said, though it seemed more like a whisper. "There is a great evil that is coming for all of us. It desires not conquest or power, only absolute destruction and annihilation. This evil will erase all of existence if it is not stopped."

I took pity on the Goddess of Courage and squeezed her hand gently. If I were crazy, then I'd at least have an adventure in my own mind. If I weren't, then I'd have an actual adventure with excitement and danger.

A question nagged in the back of my mind, so I asked, "Why me?"

It was a fair enough question.

"Why of all the people in all the universes do you turn to me, some rundown schmuck with no future? I'm nobody; I never got in any fights, and much less killed anybody. I played enough video games to be a little clever, but only because I had a guide or something to help me. How am I supposed to be the savior of the universes?"

There was a brief pause as the Three glanced at one another. Farore bit her lip, Nayru fidgeted with her hands, and Din furrowed her brow.

Finally, Nayru spoke up first. "We have chosen you because," she paused and laid her chin in her hand. "You are the evil that threatens reality."

I leaned back slowly and tried to keep my surprise locked in my jaw. I was the threat that the Golden Goddesses feared. I was getting ready to destroy all of reality. The wind left my lungs and I began to hyperventilate. What could have possessed me to do something like this, if it was even real?

Farore sat beside me and squeezed my hands.

"We don't know what happened to make you such a danger, but we do know that the danger is in the future. Din wanted to kill you to prevent that future," Din clenched her fists, "but Nayru and I wanted to give you the chance to fight, to show the good man you are, to face your demons and fears. Even if you decline this offer, we will not kill you. We will trust that you know enough of your future to avoid it. You can either fight to save both yourself and reality, or wait and hope you can stay pure and true."

My jaw hung open at the revelation of how close I came to vanishing from existence. I closed my mouth and swallowed down the bile in my throat.

Farore leaned in and her eyes screamed out her sadness and fright. She gently grabbed my arm and tugged on me. With a trembling lip, she asked me, "Will you help us?"

I blinked and smiled at her as I held her small hands in mine. I decided right then and there that I would do all I could to stop myself from destroying everything.

I rose from the couch and moved so that all three Goddesses were in my field of vision, then I knelt down on one knee and bowed my head.

"What must I do, O Golden Goddesses?"


	2. Nudge Out of the Door

Now that I showed them I was willing to help, the mood lightened up considerably. The fire became warm and inviting, the air felt lively and joyous, and the sweat on my forehead and neck evaporated. I was just starting to wonder what I'd gotten myself into when I felt two small arms cling around my neck. Farore shouted excitedly into my ear, probably a 'thank you' if her kisses on my cheek were any indication. I looked up at Din and Nayru, whose gazes eased up on me as I hugged Farore back. Even Din seemed much calmer now.

Said Goddess caught my attention with a stout 'ahem' and said, "Now that you've willingly offered your services, we can explain more of the situation without fear of you backing out." I saw a glimmer in her eye that made me shudder.

I gulped and turned my gaze away as she continued. "It is true that the danger lurks in the future, but we would not be so naïve to think we could contain it by merely offering you power, wisdom, or courage. The true evil is coming to this dimension, to this time. That is why you must fight. This evil will devour the dimensions, realms, universes, or whatever you prefer to call them—"

"I like realms."

"Very well then, and don't interrupt me again. The evil will devour every realm one by one until nothing remains, and it will start with ours, what you would call the _Legend of Zelda _realm."

She waited several moments, which I took to mean it was my turn to speak. "Can't Link defend his realm? In fact, can't all the heroes protect their own realms? I said I'd help, but it looks unnecessary now..."

Din seemed patient enough, apparently sensing my doubts and suggestions before I ever said them. She didn't glare either, only nodded in understanding. She looked like she was persuading a child to play with others.

Nayru moved swiftly but gracefully over and knelt to my left. Her sapphire eyes were much gentler than Din's and she smiled as only a mother could smile.

"Zach," she began, "you must understand that things in other realms are not as you have seen them before. At the current moment in Hyrule's history, you would consider it as the world presented in _Twilight Princess,_" she didn't have to use the full title, I understood just fine, "but this world has no Hero. Link does not exist in this period of history, but I can sense the courage inside you to become a Hero in your own respect. The evil will arrive in our realm in one week, but we plan to send you three days from now."

I merely nodded, as I was too stunned to do much else. The way her brow furrowed caught my focus again.

"But you must be warned, young one." _I'm nineteen! _"Every realm will hold differences, some major, some minor, from the way you have seen them before. Different paths will be taken, paths that were taken before will be changed now and above all, you must realize that unlike the video games you have grown up with, you do not get a second chance if you die. Once your health and strength is used up, it is Game Over."

I nodded again as I mulled over the information. I took several deep breaths as I tried to organize the whole thing clearly.

"Let me put this into terms I understand," I said, my voice shaky but still loud enough, though that probably didn't matter. "I go to your realm, save the day, come back here, but I only get one life so no room for error?"

All three Goddesses slowly shook their heads and Farore sat right in front of me as she said, "Ours isn't the only realm you will need to protect."

_That puts a dampener on things._

"I know it does, but it has to be done. You'll need to go to several different realms before you are strong enough to take on…well, yourself."

I let my shoulders sag in defeat as I realized I had to take on more than one adventure.

Nayru laid her hand on my shoulder and warmth filled me. Her voice was all I could hear as she said, "You will need more assistance throughout your quest than we can give. You must gain allies from each realm you visit. You will know whom once you find them, or they find you. If, over the course of your journeys, you find others who have deep meaning for you or your allies, they may join you as well. Once you save our realm, we will return you and your chosen here to continue with your life until we are ready to send you to the next realm. Once you have successfully defended the chosen realms, we will send you to the dimension your evil self resides in. When he is vanquished, we will bring you back. Is your task clear?"

I angled my head to an angle as I thought it through. After a little while, I said, "Here's the plan. I go round _Zelda,_ deal with the evil, bring help back here, have a nice cold soda, wait for you to send me to another realm to do it all over again, and once all that's done, I pay myself a visit?"

The Golden Goddesses nodded at once. I nodded in turn, since everything seemed simple enough now that there was a plan.

Naturally, yet another question popped into my head, so I asked, "Why three days? Wouldn't it be better if I left now?"

Din was the one who answered. "We understand time far better than your scientists and writers. Also, we wished to give you adequate time to say your farewells and gather supplies."

I ran my hand through my short hair and sighed as I thought about what I would need to do over the next few days. In fact, three days seemed too long to wait for this to start. I didn't have much to gather or say to anyone, anyway. I only had to tell my friends Leila and Ryan, and my parents—

"My parents!" I cried out. "They'd never believe that three Golden Goddesses came and asked me to save all of reality from myself from the future and I have to leave and I don't know how long I'll be gone and—"

"Calm yourself, Zach." Din ordered firmly. My mouth shut instantly and I stared into the ruby eyes of Din. "We will speak with your parents tomorrow so that they will know the severity and importance of your quest." She cupped her chin in her palm and added, "I hope they will not be as foolhardy to convince as you."

My cheeks burned with embarrassment as I took a sudden interest in the carpet.

"I feel like a kid waiting for permission to go to summer camp," I muttered.

Farore giggled and hugged me tight enough to hear bubbles in my spine pop. She planted more kisses on my cheek as she laughed out, "It _is_ like a summer camp! You'll be outside, the sun will be shining, the Zoras will be swimming, and it'll be so beautiful!"

I laughed and patted her back as I said, "You wouldn't mind sharing some of that Courage with me, would you?"

* * *

The next morning, I woke up to the intoxicating smell of pancakes, bacon, and sausage links. After determining the time on my phone to be 10:34, I dressed in a pair of navy blue sweatpants and black T-shirt, and then made my way downstairs. I nearly slipped on the stairs when I saw Din, Nayru, and Farore all sitting at the table sipping at mugs of what I assume to be coffee, my parents and brother sitting across from them. Somehow, I completely forgot the events of the night before, so I was in for a shock once I saw the Three Golden Goddesses chatting with my family as if they stopped by every day.

Farore was, naturally, the first to greet me with an energetic wave and a syrup-smothered grin. "Zach! Come join us, the food is still warm."

I didn't want to make a scene so I squeezed into a seat between Farore and my mom. There was already a plate made for me, complete with two pancakes, two slices of bacon, and two sausages, just the way I liked it.

Breakfast seemed pleasant enough. The Golden Goddesses explained the situation, thankfully leaving out the fact that _I _was the source of it all, and overall, my parents seemed calm and collected. They asked questions, the Goddesses answered, they made mild complaints here and there, such as what would happen for college, my career, my safety, and the Goddesses assured them that everything would be well worth it in the end. It seemed to take minutes, but three hours went by before they finally addressed me.

My father cleared his throat and gestured to me as he said, "I guess the only thing that's left is what you decide to do."

I nodded and rested my head on my fist so I could think. I didn't have to think about the decision; I took care of that last night. I only needed to think about what I would need, and who to tell that I would be going away for a while.

"Send me tonight," I said. "I'll be ready then."

The Golden Goddesses nodded, no doubt that they already knew what I thought. My parents, however, were less understanding.

"But Zach," my mom said, "are you sure you'll be set to go in just one day?"

I looked at her and smiled as I said, "I only have to pack some food, a bottle," I chuckled at that, "maybe a change of clothes, and a map. I can get all of those things quickly, and I'll have to tell Leila and Ryan, and that shouldn't take me long."

I understood that they were just trying to get me to stay as long as I could, but I knew I needed all the time I could get. I stood up and quietly excused myself to the basement, where my computer awaited.

I sat down into the leather desk chair and booted up my computer, while taking note that that might be the last time I use my computer, or any of my stuff, for a long time.

Ryan would be simple enough to break the news. He and I were very good friends, but we tended not to hang out very much. Leila, on the other hand, would be practically heartbroken, since we knew each other since I was fifteen.

I decided to tell Ryan first and thus pulled up Skype, since he only used his Facebook every six months or so. As if it were divine intervention, which I don't doubt, he was online.

Me: Hey, Ryan.

Ryan: heya, sup?

Me: Listen, I'm going on a trip in a few days, so I won't be able to text or go to class for a few months.

Ryan: okay… where you headed?

Me: Can't say. You wouldn't believe me.

Ryan: try me :P

Me: Maybe when I come back. I'll have proof that I went where I said I went.

Ryan: alright, man. good luck to you and tell me how it went when you come back.

Me: I will. Try not to fail German while I'm gone. :P

I sighed in relief as I exited Skype. That was the sort of short-term goodbye I liked, short, painless, vague but interesting. Unfortunately, I knew Leila would be more difficult to hear this kind of news.

I logged into Facebook and saw that she was online as well. In truth, I was hoping she wasn't so that I could just send a short message and leave it at that.

Me: I need to tell you something.

Leila: …?

Me: I'm going away for a while.

Leila: Why? Where are you going?

_Dammit._

Me: I can't tell you until I come back.

Leila: How long will you be gone?

Me: I don't know, few months maybe? At least two, maybe four.

Leila: :'( I'll miss you

_Sigh_

Me: I'll miss you too.

Leila: *hugs*

Me: *hugs back* Take care.

Leila: YOU take care, mister. And be sure to text me sometimes while you're gone.

Me: I won't be able to text or call.

Leila: :'((( Why not? Are you avoiding me or something?

_And here comes the guilt._

Me: No, I'm not avoiding you. I have to go on a trip to some place far away and cell phones and computers won't work there.

Leila: Okay… *kisses your cheek* Be safe and text me when you get home.

Me: I will. Bye.

I knew she would react that way, even though we weren't dating, but it still hurt to have to tell her. I knew how she would get extremely depressed at the most ridiculous things, so I hoped with all my heart that she would understand that this was serious. Then again, I didn't exactly tell her that, but I hoped she'd figure that if I were going somewhere for months, it would be important.

Since I wasn't going to be using my computer for a while, I decided to power it off. After all, there was no sense wasting power if no one was there to use it. I ran a hand through my hair and sat back. I just needed to pack food, clothes, a bottle, and a map. I checked the laundry room and found two clean pairs of jeans along with a green dress shirt and blue polo. After dressing in the dress shirt and jeans, I headed upstairs to look for food that wouldn't spoil easily.

In the kitchen, I found three cans of Beefaroni and a full water bottle, with another chuckle behind it, waiting for me on the counter. I looked over and saw my parents smiling at me through tear-filled eyes. Smiling back, I went over and hugged them tightly.

"I'm going to miss you guys." I said.

They could only nod at me as I noticed a piece of paper, or was it parchment, on the table. It looked like a map of Hyrule from _Twilight Princess_, but it was different. The orientation suggested that it was the Gamecube version, since Gerudo Desert was on the left and Kakariko Village was on the right. Yet, the Gerudo Desert was reoriented so that the Arbiter's Grounds were on the western border facing east, Snowpeak was directly northwest of Zora's Domain, and all of North Faron Woods was mirror-flipped and rearranged so that the Forest Temple was facing north instead of south. Other than the outer geographic changes, everything else seemed just like it was in the game.

I set the map down and pulled my glasses off to rub the bridge of my nose. After a moment, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and turned to see Din looking playful as always. She plucked the glasses out of my hand and crushed them without even blinking.

"What are you doing?!" I cried. "I need those to help me see!"

She said nothing as she pressed her index and middle fingers of her right hand into my forehead. I felt a cold sensation running from the point of contact to the retinas in my right eye. My vision blurred out and then focused back in, and Din removed her hand. I sat, or rather slumped, in the chair and rubbed my forehead to warm it back up.

Din lifted my chin and softly said, "I have given you a gift. You will no longer need glasses, as I have healed damage done to your eye and improved it so you can focus on farther and closer things."

I nodded and smiled at her. "Thanks."

She nodded back and moved away to give room to Nayru, who sat down on the chair next to me and gently pressed her thumb to my forehead. I felt a warm buzzing in my brain until she took her hand away.

"I have given you the ability to speak and understand other languages, not just Hylian, but any others that you may encounter on your journeys," She turned to my parents and blushed slightly. "He won't need to take German anymore."

I couldn't help but ask her why she hadn't come before. She only shrugged in reply.

Farore tapped my shoulder and thrust a small pouch into my face. It was rectangular and made of leather, with a lid and belt loops. I took it with respect and pulled open the lid to find that it was empty.

I lifted an eyebrow and asked, "What's this pouch for? It's too small to hold anything except maybe the map."

She giggled and buried her arm in the pouch, far more than should have been possible. I should have known better than to question a Goddess, but things were still settling in with me.

"It's a magic pouch," she explained, "that allows you to store as many items as you need. It has pockets so you can keep volatile or fragile items away from others, and insulation against extreme temperatures and it will never get wet, in case you have to go for a swim at some point." She pulled her arm out of the pouch and added, "No hiding people in it though, sorry."

"There goes my smuggling career," I said.

Now that I had a pouch, I put it to use, packing away my food and water, my spare clothes, and the map. I checked my watch and saw that it was 6:44. Time certainly flies when you're busy.

"I'd like to leave by seven, if that's alright."

The Goddesses and my parents nodded, but my brother maintained a very disapproving scowl. I shrugged when I noticed him, since I could deal with him when I got back. He was always jealous of me but I couldn't blame him nor hate him. We both had slight difficulties growing up, him having a tougher time than me since I was intelligent but not very social. He was not intelligent and not very social either. Physically, I wasn't too bad either, but he was fat, to put it bluntly, had brown eyes like our dad, and a ridiculous crimson-dyed mullet that he always parted at the center of his forehead.

He probably wasn't too pleased by how I was chosen by the Goddesses to go on a sacred quest, either. Maybe if he knew _why_, he would have been a little more understanding.

I mentally went over my checklist to make sure I had everything. I had food, clothes, water, a map, but I still felt like I was missing something. I snapped my fingers when it came to me.

"I need a weapon, something to defend myself with until I can get a real sword there."

My father nodded and headed up the stairs to his room, then returned minutes later with a wooden katana. He loved collecting melee weaponry, and he had enough to show for it. He had two steel swords, three ninja short swords, and half a dozen wooden katanas. The one he was holding was black with golden characters carved into the blade and maroon wrappings on the handle, but no hand guard. It was made of oak, so it was very sturdy, if not also a bit heavy. Thankfully, I had a habit of sneaking it away to play with it, since it was such a nice wooden sword.

He handed it reverently to me and I took it just as respectfully, gripping the handle and blade and sliding it through a belt loop on my left side. I was fully prepared, or as prepared as I could get, and so I sat on the couch and waited for seven o'clock to come by.

Ten minutes were never longer.

I thought over what I would do first once I was in Hyrule. It all depended on where I landed. Since I had a map tucked away with me, I could easily determine where I was and which town was closer. I trusted the Goddesses would not send me to the Gerudo Desert, since I would have no way of getting off that splotch of land. I decided to voice my concern but Farore preemptively interrupted me.

"We're sending you to the Faron area of Hyrule Field, just outside the entrance to Ordona Province," she said.

I nodded gratefully and rewrote my plans. I decided to go straight to Ordon Village, since Rusl was a very skilled swordsman and could train me, and I could help with the ranch and maybe even get a horse to make travel easier. The cover story was simple and relatively honest enough: I was a traveler from a far away land and wanted to explore but needed a temporary place to stay and since Ordon Village was the closest to me, I would go there.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Din smiling, actually smiling, at me. The smile seemed warm and caring, far from the passive resentment I felt from her before. She nodded once at me and I nodded back.

It was time to go to Hyrule.


	3. Arrival

I stood up from my chair and went to my living room, but stopped when a thought occurred to me that should have occurred before.

"Why do you look like that?" I asked, turning around to gesture at the Golden Goddesses. "I would assume you'd be more… no offense, Farore, but more womanly, with hips and curves and seriousness that would fit millennia-old deities."

The only sound in the room was a cricket that somehow got itself stuck somewhere.

After a few moments, Farore cleared her throat and stood up straight.

"We are aware of our visage in _Ocarina of Time_," she said, with a far more mature voice and seriousness that should not have come from a young girl. "It is inaccurate, to put it delicately." I figured she wished to say something along the lines of 'stupid, glorified hound-dogs who wouldn't know a Goddess if she came and bit 'em in the ass!'

"These are not our true forms either," she continued, "though we much more closely resemble our true selves now. Do you not notice how Din resembles a Gerudo woman? Do you not see that I resemble a Kokiri child?"

Once again, I found myself at a loss for words and could only nod. Now that she mentioned it, I should have noticed how similar Farore was to Saria. My notices ended when I saw Farore walk up to me with more confidence than I felt.

"We will explain more once your quest in Hyrule is done. For now," she leapt up and planted a kiss on my cheek as she resumed her childish impersonation. "Good luck."

* * *

The first thing I did when my brown-booted feet touched green grass was slap my forehead and cry out to the sky, "Why didn't I take the blue pill?!"

Now that I was officially immersed in a different world from my own, or I was possibly just batshit insane, or even more possibly a combination of the two, my senses were overloaded with too much for me to handle.

I could barely move my hands to wipe sweat from my brow, but when I did, I was surprised to find that I was now wearing brown gauntlets. I may have been crazy, but I knew for a fact that I did not bring gauntlets with me…

Without consciously realizing it, I sat down on the hill I arrived on, taking in the beautiful scenery but focusing more on the minutes before I left…

My focus was shattered when I heard a bizarre screech behind me, followed by feet prattling over dirt and grass. I turned around to find a blue-skinned _thing_ shambling towards me. It was tall and lanky with white hair tied in a bun and had a very painful-looking spiked club aiming right for my head.

With a yelp that sounded too feminine for my tastes, I rolled to the left, just out of the club's path. It sank into the ground and splintered down the middle but remained as one piece.

Without thinking, I lunged up and smacked my sword against the beast's head, then jabbed its stomach before finally twirling around to deliver a blow across its back, sending it sprawling to the ground. Before it could have a chance to retaliate, I lifted the club from where it fell and sent it crashing through the creature's skull.

Well, that's what _should_ have happened.

I had forgotten that the sword was still looped through my pants, so instead of hitting the beast across the head with my sword, I tripped over the wooden blade, toppled into the beast, which I identified as a Bokoblin, and sent us both rolling down the hill.

After muttering a sailor's oath, I sat up and reached for my wooden sword, still faithfully looped to my pants, but stopped at the blinding pain coming from my left side. Said side was bleeding rather profusely, and upon closer inspection, I found that I had fallen on the spike of the Bokoblin's club. I pulled the damned thing out and found the spike to be at least three inches long, with two of those three inches soaked crimson.

_Fan-freaking-tastic, _I thought. _Ten minutes in Hyrule, I'm already dying._

Splotches of black bordered my vision as I heaved myself up and smashed the club into the Bokoblin's skull, spike first. The club completed its transformation into two pieces of wood and the spiked piece I was holding remained lodged in the damned thing's head. The other piece launched up and over my head, thankfully missing me, and landed somewhere behind me.

Unfortunately, that was also when an angry memory surged into my mind and forced my hand to continue its gruesome ritual.

Thwack!

_Why couldn't you just leave me alone?!_

Thwack!

_Never bothering to talk to me, always ignoring me, unless you needed a favor!_

Thwack!

_Damn it, Anna, why can't you just—_

Thwack!

_Get—_

Thwack!

_Out—_

Thwack!

_Of—_

Thwack!

_My—_

Thwack!

_HEAD!_

THWACK!

Once the former club snapped in half again and the breath left my lungs, my hand stopped and released the worn wood. Thick purple blood drenched my gauntlets and probably my shirt and face as well.

At first, I felt a pang of guilt at taking my frustrations out on some creature that didn't know any better, but the blood seeping down my pants washed that feeling away. Unlike the fluids seeping into my gauntlets, this blood was red and came from the puncture wound I suffered earlier. I pressed my hand to the wound and hissed at the nearly overpowering sting of it, but it was for my health, so I ignored it.

I was never more thankful for the Internet than I was at that moment, when I remembered that ants could help seal up wounds. With wavy vision and an awkward limp, I shambled away from the corpse and searched around for an anthill or a line of ants or _any _sign of the little insects.

The information I remembered only said that ants would bite at the edges of the wound and their mandibles would break off to clot the wound. Accurate or not, it was my best chance to stop the bleeding, since I had no idea how to wrap a wound like that.

I was beginning to lose hope when I finally found a small mound of dirt nearby, with a trickle of black dots coming out of the mound's opening. With a silent thank you to the Golden Goddesses, I angled my index finger near the mouth of the anthill. Within seconds, ants were swarming at the scent of food and then crawled their way onto my hand. Before they could inch up my arm, I pressed back onto my wound. Like trained soldiers, they marched over my wound and did…something. I couldn't see them, but I assumed they were eating away at the useless flesh and using their own bodies as a makeshift scab.

The pain was still there but the blood finally stopped, which allowed me to stand up and wipe sweat off my forehead. I felt the wooden sword still loyally attached to my hip, so I yanked it out and held it in my right hand.

"From now on, you stay out of my pants." I sternly lectured the sword, not realizing the three sets of eyes watching me from the top of the hill.

"Hello there!" a distant voice shouted. I jumped and whirled around with my sword ready to attack, but the pain from such action sent me to my knees. My vision blurred as I heard several sets of feet racing towards me.

Seeing as the last time that happened, I got shish kebab'd, I swished my sword through the air to keep from another Bokoblin assault. The sword struck something metal, and a voice rang out that forced my eyes open.

"Easy, son, you've had a rough time," the voice said. The speaker was a well-built man, probably in his late forties, with dirty blond hair, a split mustache that angled around the corners of his mouth. He wore dark green sleeves attached to a white mildly ornate shirt, a silver and green waistband, an orange kilt under that, white trousers that ended just below his kneecaps, and dark brown sandals.

His calloused hand rested on my shoulder, but I jerked away out of reflex and held my side because the wound nearly reopened from the sudden motion.

My vision blurred again and a different, larger-sounding voice rang in my ears, saying, "Take it easy, lad, you're injured."

I tried to push away the hands that landed gently on my shoulders, but the adrenaline must have worn off, since all I could do was nudge slightly in protest. My knees decided that was the perfect time to cease function, so I crumpled over into a pair of muscular but slightly chubby arms. Everything swirled around me as the darkness closed in…

* * *

And was chased away by an irritating glare from above my head, from some lamp that was too bright for its own good. I didn't open my eyes; I wouldn't give the cursed lamp the satisfaction. I merely groaned at the red haze of my eyelids until I felt a damp cloth pat down gently on my forehead.

"Mom?" I asked with my eyes still closed. I felt that I was in a bed, snuggled under a few layers of Goddess-woven fabrics, though I could catch the strong scent of pines and…manure?

"There, just relax," a sweet, maternal voice said to me. I was too disorientated to notice how it sounded different and younger than my mom's voice. "You've been asleep for over twelve hours now."

_Twelve hours? Have I been out all night?_

I shook my head slowly as I said, "I had this…horrible dream. The Golden Goddesses chose me to…go to a different world and…have an adventure…"

"Well, you're safe now, here in good old Ordon Village."

My eyes shot open to reveal that the 'lamp' was actually an open window.

"Ordon Village?" I half-cried as I launched myself upright on the bed to find a girl sitting there next to me, cloth in hand.

She looked about my age, with a white sleeveless tunic with an interesting collar design and dark orange trousers that ended just below her knees. Her eyes were a nice shade of blue-green, while her medium brown hair hung just above her eyebrows and swooped to the right as it tapered over her neck, just above her shoulders.

The girl smiled politely at me and dabbed the cloth on my forehead again until I gently held her wrist. "My name's Ilia."

"Zach. Where am I?" I asked.

"Ordon Village, in Mayor Bo's house," she said, wiggling her wrist free as she gently pushed me back down.

I felt a soreness coming from my side, and when I looked down, I found bandages wrapped around my waist. I nodded slowly as I remembered what happened the day before.

Landing in Hyrule…

Fighting the Bokoblin…

Being impaled on its club…

Meeting some people…

"Did the Mayor find me?"

Ilia nodded and pressed softly on the bandages. "Father and Rusl found you and took you here to recover. You were wounded pretty badly."

"I noticed." I replied flatly, which seemed to upset her since her shoulders tensed up and her smile faded. I sighed and eased myself up once more. "Sorry," I said, "I'm just grumpy."

She nodded and smiled again as she said, "I understand. The wound was pretty deep and nearly punctured your intestines." _Thank you so much for that image._ "You would have died if you hadn't stopped the bleeding. How did you know to use ants?" she asked. I raised an eyebrow as I tried to think of a way to explain it.

"I read about it once in a medical journal." It was honest enough, I hoped.

Ilia nodded and pulled the covers off me, revealing tan pants that seemed a little baggy on me.

"How did I get into these?" I asked, ignoring the shrillness of my voice.

Ilia's cheeks turned scarlet as she muttered something.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I changed your pants for you," she said more clearly. "Your pants were soaked in blood, both from you and that Bokoblin you killed."

_Killed…_

I lowered my head as I realized I made my first kill in Hyrule, or ever, in fact.

"Do you feel well enough to stand?" she asked with a hint of hope and concern. "Father wants to speak to you."

_Can't he just come in and talk to me here?_

Ignoring my inner complaints, I nodded and eased my legs over the side of the bed, noting the way my left side burned in protest. Setting my feet on the surprisingly warm floor, I lifted myself up and strode carefully to the ladder, taking note of the house as I peered over the edge.

It was a nice two-story house, filled with nice furniture and pictures along the walls, with several ladders and scaffoldings to connect the two floors. It was no wonder the mayor couldn't talk to me up here; the floor would collapse beneath him!

I could see the mayor down below, sitting at a table with a bowl of porridge. He was large, probably a combination of fat and muscle, wore a sleeveless white tunic that reached down to his thighs and a thick dark green sash around his waist, and the only hair on his head were eyebrows and a split grey mustache that curved upwards in a pseudo-smile.

As I lowered myself down the first ladder, I could hear Ilia following me. The pain in my side was getting worse since I was adding more strain to my muscles. After climbing down the last ladder, I stepped back from the cursed thing, only to bump into something very big and very warm.

I turned around to find the mayor, far taller than I remembered from the game, or maybe I just felt so small compared to him. His enormous arm weighed heavily down on my shoulder as he ushered me to the table.

"Sit down, lad, and get some breakfast while it's hot." Good Goddesses, his voice was loud! With tense shoulders, I nodded and sat down in a spare seat, a steaming bowl of porridge in front of me. I never had porridge before but I always figured it was like oatmeal, which I could not stand.

It smelled pleasant, however, like pumpkin pie with a dash of cinnamon. I lifted the spoon, blew gently on it, and tasted the porridge. My eyes widened as I realized it was essentially pumpkin pie soup! I _love _pumpkin pie!

I finished the bowl, taking care not to singe my tongue, in less than two minutes, and then I realized my mistake. Since I hadn't eaten for more than half a day, my stomach wasn't used to having so much food in so little time with no easing into the process. My stomach kindly reprimanded me for my foolishness by flipping over itself and squeezing until I felt my body would split in half.

I saw a cup near my bowl and noticed that it was full of milk. Not one to pass down a good drink of calcium, I grabbed the cup and nearly guzzled the thing down when I heard giggling somewhere behind me. I turned and found several heads peeking from behind a window at me. They ducked down before I could get a good look, so I resumed my nourishing, but took care to sip down the milk instead of chugging it.

Once I finished everything, Ilia kindly took away my dishes and left me alone with her blubberous father, the Mayor of Ordon Village. He didn't do much for a full half hour; he only stared at me to see if I was going to do something heinous or dastardly. I had a mischievous streak in my youth, but I was beyond that by the time I was sixteen.

"So," he began, startling me out of my reminiscing, "as you've probably been told, I am Mayor Bo of Ordon Village. I trust your wound hasn't been bothering you?"

I nodded and gently prodded the bandages. "It's still sore, but I don't think it got infected or anything. Thank you, Mr. Mayor."

He nodded and rested his chin on his fist. He eyed me up and down before saying, "What brings you this far from Hyrule Proper? And where did you get a sword like this?" He held up my wooden sword. "I have never seen a blade like this; even the letters etched into the wood are foreign to my old eyes."

_Crap, he wants to know what those characters mean. I don't even know!_

"The runes," I said, hoping using a cool word like that would show my knowledge and wisdom about the wooden sword, "are from an ancient language where I come from." He lifted an eyebrow. "Roughly translated, they say," in the instant between when I said the word 'say' and the false translation itself, I felt the nearly irresistible urge to read it as: _"One Blade to Rule Them All… One Blade to Find Them… One Blade to Bring Them All… And in the Darkness, Bind Them." _

Instead of plagiarizing _The Lord of the Rings, _I decided to come up with my own translation.

"_Of Black and Gold My Ashes Lie, Let Sun and Moon Dance in My Eye."_

His eyebrows lifted up in surprise and respect at the words on the blade, oblivious to the fact that I just lied to him. I was always good at it; able to keep whatever faces were necessary for the lie to work, except my eyes would always betray me. Thankfully, he had no clue about my facial tics and expressions, so he bought the story.

"It was a gift from my father," I continued, "to accompany me on my journey. I'm not from Hyrule at all, as you probably guessed." He nodded slowly, eyes watching me intently. "I come from a land very, _very _far away." _A whole dimension, in fact!_ "The country I was born in is called America," I didn't want to get technical and say the damned country's full name.

Mayor Bo nodded but his brow scrunched up in confusion as he asked, "Why did you bring a wooden sword? Surely you had other weapons at your disposal before you departed?"

I gave a one-shoulder shrug and answered, "We have other swords, but they're only for show. Made of steel, yes, but not tempered to withstand actual combat; decorations and nothing more." My father just loved to collect them, but since I lived in 2013, actual combat-ready swords were a little hard to come by. "That sword is the strongest we had available."

"Yet you have no clue how to use it properly," he said with a chuckle. At first, I wanted to blush and protest that I did too know how to use it but I didn't have the chance to, but my cover story would be even better if I could play my cards right.

"I don't, but I heard there was a swordsman here in Ordon that could teach me." I held my chin and scratched absentmindedly at the stubble in false remembrance. "Rusl, I think his name was."

Mayor Bo lifted one brow and lowered his hand from his chin. "You came all this way to see Rusl? He is a fine swordsman, to be sure, but you didn't try looking near Hyrule Castle Town or your homeland for a suitable teacher?"

I never liked playing cards anyway.

"I thought of it," I said, "but I've heard rumors that Hyrule Castle Town is full of only cowardly soldiers who can't even stand up to a wild animal." I hoped to the Golden Goddesses that the game got that part right at least.

Mayor Bo stared at me for what felt like hours until he started laughing and slammed his fists on the table.

"Isn't that the truth!" he bellowed, his laughter carrying up and shaking nearly every loose object in the house.

"I guess it is," _Thank you so much. I needed that._

"Come, lad, come!" he chuckled out, standing up from the table. He handed me the wooden sword and beckoned me out of the house, where I got my first good look at Ordon Village.


	4. Chicks and Thrones

**Author's Note: **You will notice discrepancies starting in this chapter and continuing throughout the story. This is deliberate and not a display of ignorance, as this is an Alternate Universe of all the video game worlds involved in the overall story. Please keep open minds regarding the changes, which will range from extremely minor (The Wooden Sword actually came from Earth and not Hyrule) to substantially noticeable (Link does not exist) to impossible to ignore (Characters that should not exist anymore still do). These discrepancies will be present throughout the story, in varying degrees, but please enjoy the story as much as you can.

Thank you

* * *

As I set out into Ordon Village, I felt an uncomfortable aching in my side. The wound was healing well, but it probably needed another week to fully heal.

A week that I didn't have.

The major event was happening in six days, and I still had to talk to Rusl, convince him to train me, and then actually learn something in that span of time. I could only assume that whatever happened six days from then would be the coming of Twilight.

All the more reason to learn as much as I could and maybe set a few pieces of the board in motion before what happened to Link in the game happens to me in reality.

Or insanity, whichever sounds cooler.

The wound was healthy, if that makes any sense. It wasn't infected or torn, just very achy from climbing down those damn ladders. Due to the nature of my bandages and such, I could barely lift my arm up to put on a shirt, but thankfully Mayor Bo had a spare (oversized) tunic for me that I could just drop over my head. It was the same as his; white, no sleeves, down to my knees. I felt like a damn fool for wearing a dress but it was better than topless with bandages, although that was more badass.

More giggles followed me as I stepped down the ramp leading from Mayor Bo's house to a small grassy lawn. Just ahead of that was a dirt road that went to the left and uphill, most likely to the ranch, and to the right and over a stream of water to an exit, probably to the woods.

Overall, Ordon Village was exactly the way it looked before. Across the dirt trail from Mayor Bo's house was Rusl and Uli's house, since I could see a familiar figure standing at the doorway next to his pregnant wife. Down the trail and to the right was Talo and Malo's house, a blue-roofed building along the stream and on the edge of a very tempting lake, a waterwheel spinning lazily along the side. On the other side of the stream and near the forest gate was a pink-roofed house, which was both Bath's home and the local shop if I recalled correctly.

Between Rusl's and Beth's house was a twenty-something-foot tree. Hidden within its branches was a nest of what I assume to be hawks, since the mother (or father, I was never good at Zoology) seemed hawk-like and was leaning over three chicks, most likely feeding them.

I paused when I noticed how remarkable my eyesight was now. I was nearsighted… or farsighted, I always get those two confused. The point is I had trouble seeing things at a distance, but that hawk and his or her babies were as clear as if they were in front of me. I noticed some blurriness at their borders, so I figured that I couldn't see perfectly, though it was a definite improvement.

As Mayor Bo and I walked along the path toward the forest gate, I heard screeching coming from the nest. I looked up and saw a small stone fly past the hawk nest, disturbing the family and rattling the flimsy twigs and leaves behind it. I turned to where I thought the rock came from and found a scruffy-looking lad standing on a tall rock near the shop.

He looked to be about eight years old, with long brown hair wrapped in a lopsided red headband, a white sleeveless shirt, grey waistband tied with an orange sash, and a blue kilt-dress thing emblazoned with the image of an acorn. Jumping up and down triumphantly, he pointed at the nest, and when I looked back, I saw that one of the chicks was teetering on the edge in panic at the disturbance.

Before the little brat could chuck another rock, I darted forward, ignoring the burn in my side as I leapt over the small bridge connecting the two lanes. The chick was falling freely now, so I had around five to seven seconds to catch it safely or else that hawk parent was going to be _very_ angry with the youth.

I held my arms out, palm up and fingers cupped, and tucked myself into a roll as the chick tumbled into my hands. I willed my body to continue rolling in order to keep the chick's momentum going until it slowed to a stop.

Once I settled down, I examined the chick. It was such a pathetically adorable thing, with beady eyes and a beak that seemed out of place with its poofy feathers, too short to allow flight and too long to be called fur. Thankfully, other than hungry and scared out of its mind, the chick looked no worse for wear.

I had a soft spot for tiny adorable things, so I gently stroked its head and marveled at how soft the feathers were. It chirped and flapped its 'wings' in excitement and looked up at the tree.

I followed its gaze and saw that there was a cropping of vines along the tree's bark, but that climb would take two hands, and I was busy holding the baby hawk.

I guessed that I could carry the chick and climb up at the same time if I was slow and steady about it. I wasn't about to let an innocent little thing like this suffer because I had a boo-boo.

Keeping the chick tucked in my left hand and close to my chest, I grabbed hold of the vines and lifted myself up, grunting at the effort.

Sure, I wasn't a fat guy by most standards, but that was still 225 pounds I had to lift up with only one arm. Luckily, the tree was not perfectly round and had some notches along its surface that I could use as footholds.

With the chick safely held to my chest, I inched my way up the tree, grabbing various vines and stepping in convenient notches along the way. By the time I was halfway up, my side was burning and stinging so badly that I nearly let go of the tree.

"Oi! What are you doing in that tree?" cried a young voice.

I figured it was the rock-thrower, so I bit back, "Fixing your mess!"

I heard a huff and a deeper voice calling up to me.

"Zach, take it easy! Your wound's reopened!"

_Thank you, Mayor Bo, for telling me that I'm dying while I'm climbing a tree._

"I'll be right down!" I called down, wishing I could voice my inner thoughts. "I'm just taking this chick back to its nest."

Twittering nervously, the chick in question dug its tiny but adorable talons into my hand. It felt like a prickling sensation, but I had to ignore it as I finally reached the branch where its nest sat.

That was when I noticed another problem: I was using one arm to keep myself steady in the tree, but my other arm was busy holding the chick to my chest. The nest was too far for me to reach with my left hand but I couldn't let go with my right hand. With a loud groan, I swung my legs up and hooked them over a lower branch, allowing me to sit down and reposition myself.

I pulled up my feet and pressed against the branch, using my right hand to balance along the bark. Once I was fairly sure I was stable, I switched the chick to my right hand and reached up to the nest. With a happy chirp, it hopped from my palm to the safety of its home, where its two siblings were tweeting in hysterics. The parent was nowhere to be seen, but I didn't think I wanted to hang around for it to come back, so I began my descent toward solid ground.

The pain in my side was excruciating by then, as if a white-hot slab of metal was being pressed into my flesh. I looked down _(Bad idea!) _to examine my wound and saw that my tunic was stained red along my left side.

Unfortunately, I also saw how high up I was, and clung to the tree in terror.

I heard some chattering below me and figured the whole village was watching me make a fool of myself. Thank goodness I was wearing pants.

"What's the matter?" a young but unfamiliar voice called up to me. "Afraid of heights?"

"Fear of heights is irrational!" I retorted. "Fear of falling, on the other hand, is prudent and evolutionary…"

Ignoring my pain and fear, I lowered myself down and sat on the branch, but my mind went blank when I heard a loud crack next to me.

The branch was breaking under my weight and I wasn't holding on to anything.

"This is gonna suck…" I grumbled as the branch snapped free, with me on top.

* * *

_Yet another boring Monday morning for me. Huzzah. _The figure under the sheets lifted up from her bed, but its magic was too strong and drew her back down on the other end, face buried in fiery hair.

"Curse you, O Bed of Unending Comfort…" she grumbled to the piece of furniture.

She lay there for a while, since the pounding on the door seemed very agitated.

"Midna, wake up! Today is the day your parents decide on the heir to the throne!" the voice cried out.

She waved an arm carelessly at the door and called back, "I'll be there, Shedo! I'm getting dressed right now!"

Midna waited for her servant's footsteps to fade away before dragging herself out of bed. She took three steps before she froze at Shedo's words.

"_Today is the day your parents decide on the heir to the throne!"_

_Heir to the throne…_

_Heir…_

Normally, she would have gotten dressed slowly and lazily in a casual shirt and skirt, put on makeup the same way, schlepped over to the throne room, and daydreamed over fun things to do around the Twilight Realm.

This was not one of those days. Midna dashed over to her wardrobe and yanked out the finest shadow silk shirt and matching left legging, formal sarong and cloak, practically tore off her sleepwear, dressed herself, dabbled on her best makeup, swiped the ceremonial crown from the dresser, and ran out of there faster than you can say "Fused Shadows."

The Twilight Princess darted through the halls of the Palace of Twilight, saying hello to people she saw along the way. It looked to be around ten in the morning, which meant she was already an hour late to the meeting. Midna may have been a carefree bachelorette living the good life as Princess of Twilight, but when it came to the very important stuff, nothing else mattered.

Not even Zant, who was standing just inside the door leading to the throne room.

_Especially _not Zant, that creepy Twili who everyone knew wanted the throne for his own uses.

Midna was not the most responsible political figure in the kingdom, but she at least always kept her people's interests ahead of her own. She never did anything without first thinking about how the people could be affected. She always bought whatever was needed, never just taking them, and she always treated them like they were her brother or sister.

Zant, on the other hand, treated pretty much everyone like they were dirt beneath his ridiculous shoes. He was greedy, selfish, and petty. He looked at the throne like Midna would a pair of new shoes.

Or a piece of meat, considering the way his eyes roamed over her. She shuddered at the look in his eyes.

Lust, no doubt for her body, which Midna repeatedly told him was on reserve for her future husband, the King of Twilight.

"Hello, Princess," he said with a disgraceful bow. His voice felt like ice on the back of Midna's neck. "I hope you slept well."

"I did, thanks," She said, making no effort to hide her dislike of the way he continued to stare at her legs. "If you'll excuse me, I'm late for a meeting."

He chuckled that hideously deformed chuckle that always sent shivers up her skin and said, "Yes, I heard the King and Queen finally decided on the next ruler."

He cupped my chin, and it was all she could do not to spit in his discolored grey face and run into the throne room. "Don't get your hopes up, _Princess._ After the years of faithful service, they have no choice but to acknowledge me as their new ruler."

_Pheh, faithful my Shadow!_

"Well, I'm sure they'll have to also acknowledge the incident last week when you smacked aside Burak because she was running a little late."

"She deserved it!" he bellowed, his normally orange eyes taking on a blood red tone. "I am a very busy man and I needed that cloak for the ball!"

"She was with child!" Midna cried back, standing up to him even though he was nearly a foot taller than she. "Maybe she was late because a contraction hit her and she could barely move!"

"A poor excuse for a servant! Her duty is to serve the royalty, not some child who isn't even alive! Perhaps if she were more responsible—"

That was it. Midna's hand swept across his face before either could register the action. Burak was one of her closest friends since childhood, even with the royalty gap. She married recently and Midna was probably the happiest person there at the wedding, besides Burak herself. She was seven months pregnant but still insisted on continuing with her duties, until Zant smacked her aside when she failed to do what he asked.

Sure, she was late and that was bad, but she was _with child!_ Midna asked a few favors of her now and then but she never once blamed her for taking longer than Midna liked. She was the child's godmother, after all. She could never blame the child for disrupting her duties, since she had every right to take a maternity leave but felt her duty to the Throne was greater.

The Twilight Princess never liked Zant to begin with, but that day was when she realized she _hated _the excuse of a man. The way he smacked her caused complications with the child, who was later found out as a girl, and she died.

Burak has been in the healing chambers all week, but next to nothing can heal a broken heart. Midna visited her every day for as long as she could, offering her support and sympathy.

Zant never paid that day any thought, which just made Midna even angrier with him.

"You will _never _have that throne, even if you kill me and everyone else in this realm!" Midna screamed at him, not caring that there were nearly twenty pairs of eyes staring at them.

Ignoring his nursing the slap mark, she stomped into the throne room and stood in her designated spot just below and to the right of the throne, crossing her arms to keep from lashing out further.

Midna's father, King Naito was sitting on the throne, his fiery red hair matted beneath the crown, heavy black and gold robes draped over him and down the edges of the royal seat, the regal figure everyone knew he was.

Queen Yoake, Midna's mother, stood beside him, her pale orange, almost white hair hung beautifully in buns and braids, with her black clothing clinging gracefully to her figure and down past her ankles.

The King and Queen said nothing at their daughter's little tantrum, but they did watch Zant and Midna with wary eyes. It was no secret how much Midna disliked the filth, but she had a habit of forgetting that she was in competition with him for the crown. She could not afford to lose her cool and risk letting him win, especially since she was at a disadvantage; she needed to marry so that the husband could gain the throne. Midna was merely a doorway to power for other men.

Zant fidgeted with his maroon hood and stepped into the hall, his black cloak billowing in a nonexistent breeze. He walked confidently up and stopped at his designated spot across from his competition.

Just looking at him sent Midna's hair into gentle but furious convulsions, but she calmed down when her father cleared his throat. She glanced up at him and recognized the look on his face. In the throne room, he was not Naito, her father.

He was Naito, King and Ruler of the Twilight Realm.

"I am sure you know why I have called for this meeting." He was definitely more serious than ever, as he should be. The fate of the entire realm was about to be decided.

Zant straightened up and Midna fought the urge to roll her eyes at him. He was doubtlessly going to black-nose his way to the throne.

"As your King, I am charged with the protection and stability of this realm and all of its inhabitants. I have ruled this realm since my father, Former King Kage, passed the throne to me nineteen years ago. We have enjoyed over two hundred millennia of peace in our Twilight Realm, and now comes the time when I must decide who will next hold that peace."

The Twilight Princess stood straighter and held her arms at her sides, gazing into the King's commanding orange eyes. He beckoned her forward, and as she kneeled before him, she could not help but notice the look of pride and admiration in his eyes.

Midna kept her lips in a straight line as he said, "Midna, Princess of Twilight, and my daughter these wonderful nineteen years. Should you be granted the throne, will you continue to uphold the laws set by our forefathers?"

She looked directly into his eyes and said, "I will." She meant it too. She saw how happy the citizens were and had no desire to end that happiness.

"Should you be granted the throne," King Naito continued, "will you use the powers granted to you for the good of our people and not for your own desires?"

"I will." Midna had no reason to abuse her power, and she was already very good friends with the majority of the population.

"Should you be granted the throne, will you seek war with the Light Realm? Will you seek their subjugation or destruction?"

That question caught her off guard. The Light Realm was where their ancestors waged their war with the Goddesses all those years ago. Midna was comfortable in this realm, since she grew up in it, and held no attachments to the Light Realm; especially since that time she snuck through the Mirror and was nearly incinerated on contact with the afternoon sunlight.

The Realm of Light has not done anything particularly harmful to them, except for the occasional criminal they sent for the Twilians to deal with. Midna admitted to herself that she hated how they just threw trash away and expected the Twilight Realm to be okay with that.

But did she want to wage war? Did she want to bring horror and violence down upon her people? Did she want to make the Light Dwellers pay for what happened to her ancestors?

"I will not." Midna answered finally. "Our ancestors earned their punishment through bloodshed and anarchy, and even though we continue to live in the Twilight Realm, we have made it our home. I have no desire or reason to interact with the Light Realm, and I refuse to disturb the happiness we have now."

King Naito drew in a deep breath, his face unreadable, but his eyes betrayed the pride at the answer. He nodded once and gestured to Midna's spot, so she returned to it. On the way, she caught the glances of the counselors and advisors in the throne room with them. On all of their faces, even the ever-disapproving Yugata, was admiration at the declaration to maintain peace in our realm.

As Midna gracefully spun around to face the throne, Zant was already kneeling down, his eyes burning intensely at her.

She flashed a smile at him and winked. _Sorry if I said the right answer, _she thought smugly at him.

"Zant," King Naito began, "Royal Vizier to the Crown, and trusted advisor these past ten years. Should you be granted the throne, will you continue to uphold the laws set by our forefathers?"

"I will," he answered, but too quickly. The bastard was just copying her answers! She could see the truth in his eyes!

"Should you be granted the throne, will you use the powers granted to you for the good of our people and not for your own desires?"

"I will." Another lie.

"Should you be granted the throne, will you seek war with the Light Realm? Will you seek their subjugation or destruction?"

"I will." His answer was too quick but the pause afterward was too long. "Not!" he stammered out.

Midna tried so hard to hide a smirk but that was just too priceless. Even if no one could see his face, that answer alone told my father everything he needed to know.

"I have made my decision." Or not. The tone in his voice chilled my blood.

Zant hurriedly returned to his spot, the King rose from his throne, and all bowed to him. Midna grew up with my father, but the way he held himself was definitely intimidating to her.

His back was straight, his crown was even, and his chin was high. Queen Yoake stood beside him, her maternal gentility masked behind a face of royalty and sternness. They both floated down the staircase and landed squarely between Zant and Midna.

"Zant," Queen Yoake said as she faced him. "You have a sharp wit and almost ruthless devotion to uphold our laws," to Midna's disgust, he smirked, "and your record for finding criminals is near flawless. You have always treated King Naito and me with the proper respect." _To your faces, at least._ "You rose through the ranks quickly and efficiently, the sign of a great soldier and you carry with the presence of one as well."

The Twilight Princess fought down the urge to scoff at his 'credentials'. She wanted so badly to slap that stupid grin off his face, but she did nothing when her father turned to her.

"Midna, you are disrespectful towards your elders, you are irresponsible to the point of sneaking into the Light Realm," _It was _one _time and I nearly died! _"And you are late for every other meeting I call, even this one. You feel it fit for royalty such as you to wander the streets, interacting with the citizens as though they were family. You never use the rights and privileges granted to you such that you feel you can do anything yourself if you wanted to."

Midna felt hurt at how Zant was being praised and she was being lectured, and her eyes stung as she realized that Zant, the arrogant prick, was going to ascend to the throne and not her.

Her father surprised her with his kind and loving smile, the one that he always gave her when she was about to be given something spectacular.

"That is why Queen Yoake and I have decided to grant the throne," Midna held her breath and saw Zant nearly drool with excitement. King Naito lifted one arm in the air, finger extended, and all was quiet. He lowered his arm and pointed directly at Midna.

His smile nearly killed her as he said, "To you."

* * *

Everything slowed down to a crawl as I fell. It was surreal, seeing my blood float beside me as we both crashed down to earth.

_So this is what I get for being a Good Samaritan._

I crossed my arms, but I definitely noticed how my own actions were normal while everything else was still slow as hell. It was as if I was floating slowly toward the ground instead of dropping like a rock like I should have.

I felt a buzzing somewhere behind me, some distant nagging sensation at the back of my mind that beckoned to me.

_Roll…_

I blinked and looked around as I heard a voice in the back of my mind. It sounded feminine but mechanical at the same time.

_Kick… Roll…_

"What?" I asked aloud, though I have no idea why. The voice seemed to be coming from over the edge of the forest, but sounded like it was right next to me.

_Kick from the tree… Roll to safety…_

"Who are you?"

_Kick from the tree, roll to safety…_

I saw a faint purple glow from behind the trees and figured that that was the source of the voice.

I wanted answers from this voice, but I wanted to land safely even more, so I twisted my body in the air and coiled up against the bark of the tree.

Time resumed its march as I kicked myself from the tree and fell quickly to the ground. Some natural instinct kicked in inside me, as I felt myself tuck into a ball and grab the grass before it could smash me. I grinded against the ground and rolled along the surface until my legs flailed out to halt my momentum. I stopped just short of Mayor Bo, who looked as if he'd seen a ghost.

While I landed safely, it was not perfect, as I felt a bruise developing on my back where I struck the ground. My wound was getting a little itchy as well, not to mention how pale my hand looked when I pressed it against my aching head.

_No good deed goes unpunished, _I thought as Mayor Bo lifted me up and ran through the gate and into the forest. I looked up at the top of the trees, but the faint purple glow was long gone by then.


	5. No Pressure

**Author's Note: **Following the advice of one of my reviewers, Zach will maintain a First Person POV while all others will have a Third Person POV, unless certain scenes arise which require 3P-POV.

In addition, someone has recently asked me if I intend to go to other universes after this, such as Disney or Star Wars. With all due respect, to him or her, I have _no _intention of going anywhere near Disney, as Kingdom Hearts has already done that and I will not repeat it. If I decide to make a sequel, it will involve other video games that I deem appropriate given the nature of the story and its characters.

* * *

"_What?!" _The two voices that rang out through the throne room nearly deafened every pair of ears in a three-mile radius, including Midna's even when she was one of the people to say it. Her shout was filled with disbelief and utter shock-ridden glee, but Zant's was riddled with hatred and anger.

His eyes were burning a bloody red into Midna's as he stepped forward. "My Lord, are you certain this is a wise decision?" She wasn't surprised in the least to see him so flustered. He did just lose the keys to the kingdom, after all.

King Naito beamed proudly and rested his hands on Midna's shoulders. "I have never been more certain," he said. She stared into his loving orange eyes as her cheeks grew warm.

"My Liege," Zant babbled on, "You yourself said that Midna," he must have taken special care not to spit her name out, "is irresponsible and disrespectful. Surely, that alone is enough to convince you that she is unworthy of the throne. There is also the technicality that states she only truly comes into power by wedding—"

"_Be still!"_ the King commanded, and Midna instinctively flinched under his tone. "Your King speaks. What you say is true, Zant. Midna is irresponsible and disrespectful…" he took a deep pause and made a sideways glance at Zant, "to those who deserve nothing more from her."

"The law indeed states that she must marry in order to properly gain the throne," Queen Yoake interjected. "Given the circumstances, we have spoken with the Council and nearly all have agreed to make an exception this one time. Midna may marry if she chooses, but it will not impede her ascendancy." Both King and Queen turned to glare at Zant with vengeance in their eyes.

Queen Yoake's hair bristled with fury and her voice grew cold as she said, "Also, since you yourself bring up the notion of responsibility…"

Queen Yoake swiftly snapped her fingers, and two armored guards approached. "Zant, your crime one week ago has not gone unnoticed. Miss Burak has been mourning for the loss of her child," she pointed straight into Zant's chest, "whom _you_ are responsible for murdering."

Zant shuddered at her deadly accusation, much to Midna's extreme pleasure. "She should not have put the child above the Royal House; it was simply a way for her to learn her place. I did not intend to harm her child—"

"You _dare_ lie to your King and Queen, inside their own throne room!" Queen Yoake bellowed, more stating than questioning. The two guards grabbed Zant roughly by his arms and lifted him up slightly. The stare the Queen gave him was enough to reduce him to ashes if she so desired.

"P-please! I m-meant no offense! Spare me, _please!_"

_What a pathetic excuse for a man, much less a potential candidate for the crown_, Midna thought.

King Naito spun on his heel to face Zant, his gaze seemingly somewhere behind the coward. "In respect towards your ten years of service, the Queen and I will indeed be merciful."

The Twilight Princess' eyes were the size of the Sols. _They were going to show _him_ mercy? After what he did to Burak and her daughter?! _Midna was about to throttle Zant herself if her father had not continued speaking.

"It is decided, then, that your punishment will be to live in exile, far out in the Nanimo. You have until tonight to gather your belongings and _leave._" He said the final word with such firmness Midna thought he was going to toss Zant out himself if the guards did not.

Kicking and screaming like a spoiled child, Zant was carried out of the throne room, all other witnesses following, and his cries of anger faded away until there was nothing but silence. King Naito stood tall and with regal solemnity until he turned to face his daughter. His gaze softened slightly but lost none of its seriousness.

"All that I have said is true, daughter. You are stubborn, reckless, and irresponsible." Midna's shoulders sagged slightly at the facts. "You must learn to be a careful, considering, and, above all, _level-headed _Queen if you are to succeed in your reign."

Midna lifted an eyebrow at the way he said 'level-headed' but remained silent. She was not about to give up her right to the throne because of a few choice words. He turned from her and stepped up to the seat of the throne, placing himself down with majestic grace.

"Your mother and I have decided how best to proceed," he said, sparing a glance to Queen Yoake, though the very slight blush on his cheeks pretty much said that whatever they were planning was her idea.

Said Queen turned to Midna and held her shoulders as only a mother, her mother, could, and escorted her to sit on the steps of the throne. "What do you recall of your visit to the Light Realm?"

Midna's brow furrowed as she stared blankly into her mother's eyes. _What did the Light Realm have to do with this? _Midna pondered. _I already said I wasn't going to invade the Light Realm. Hell, I didn't intend to visit there ever, _especially_ after last time._

"Princess Midna, your Queen has asked you a question," her mother said softly.

She shook herself out of her thoughts and answered, "I was there for around thirty seconds. I stepped onto the platform, which looked like it was made of solid light. The feeling of my skin turning on fire was the first thing I felt, and when I turned to face the sun," she took a deep breath. That event was seven years ago, but she doubted she could ever forget it. "My eyes felt like they were going to explode, and I tried to shield them, but any movement just made me hurt more, like I was…" she trailed off, unable to actually put her feelings into audible words.

"Like you were dying," Yoake finished. Midna nodded and felt her stomach churn at the memory. "Such is the way of the Twili. We have grown so accustomed to our ceaseless Twilight that any contact with pure light is near fatal unless you are hidden in a shadow." She held her daughter's hands and whispered a slight prayer that Midna couldn't understand.

She felt woozy then, as if the whole world was spinning, but her mother's firm hands kept her stable. Her skin, normally chalk white like everyone else, turned a creamy pale blue, and several teal-colored patterns of Twili scripture sizzled painlessly into her forearms, over her black shadow silk sleeves. Midna could only stare blankly at her relatively new appearance. As far as she could tell, the only things changed were her skin color and new scriptures on her arms.

"I have cast a spell of protection on you, dearest daughter," Queen Yoake said. "No longer will you be harmed by the light of Hyrule."

"Hyrule? I don't understand. Why did you cast this spell?"

King Naito interjected by clearing his throat and said, "You must speak with the King and Queen of Hyrule and request a special item that only they possess."

"Which is?"

King Naito simply answered, "The Fused Shadow."

* * *

The trees and rock walls all moved past me, or did I move past them? I was too disoriented from blood loss and pain to notice anything besides the scenery and Mayor Bo's jiggly chin. Good _Goddesses_, that thing jiggled with every frantic step he took!

I took a mental step back from my surroundings to process the fact that I was now explicitly saying and thinking Goddess-related idioms instead of my usual arrangement of 'Good _Lord!_' and the occasional 'God dammit!', but I guess meeting actual deities does that to you.

By the time I focused back on reality, or whatever my insanity decided this was, I was being lowered into a pool of comfortably warm water. The instant my head touched the liquid, my senses blasted back into action and bombarded me with a very bright light somewhere above me, but it was too close and too white to be the sun.

That could only mean…

I lurched up so suddenly that I couldn't stop when I saw Ilia's worried face peering at me. I slammed my head full-force into hers and down I went, head throbbing and teeth grinding. Once more, the instant my skull hit the water, the pain ceased and was replaced by more bombarding light.

"You seem to have a habit of getting yourself injured, lad," a calm voice said somewhere to my left. I sat up, slowly this time, to find Mayor Bo with his arms crossed, Ilia holding a welt on her forehead, and a man who seemed familiar…

"Are you Rusl?" I asked, since he looked like the guy I locked blades with when I first arrived. He nodded and I smirked at my genius. I set about standing up, only to wince as my side burned uncomfortably.

I looked down to find that my shirt-dress was gone and so were my bandages, revealing a very ugly puncture hole in my skin. It was rimmed with purple and angry red, with bits of tiny crusty things clinging to the edge of the wound. I began to question it but remembered what I did with the ants and their mandibles.

I felt a hand press into my shoulder and looked up to see Mayor Bo standing over me. He gently lowered me into the water until my wound was under the surface. The buzzing at my side weaned away slowly, and I watched in amazement as the wound closed itself and regained its normal coloring, with only a small circle of pale scar tissue left to let anyone know I got stabbed at all.

On the other hand, the blood stains on my skin and pants would probably be a dead giveaway.

Heh, dead giveaway. Morbid humor.

"I wish I had some of this stuff back home…" I muttered, feeling the scars of my past as if I got them yesterday. The healing water would definitely have been helpful back in 1998…

I felt a light hand on my shoulder and saw that Ilia was using me for support as she dunked her head into the water. When she emerged, the welt on her head was gone, but she seemed dizzy, probably from the same sensory overload I suffered twice.

Mayor Bo cleared his throat and said, "This is Ordon Spring, home of the Light Spirit Ordona. We didn't bring you here at first because the healing abilities of the spring have some…side effects, such as dizziness and overpowered senses. We only use the spring's natural healing for emergencies." He gestured behind me and I turned to see several oval-shaped stones with ancient patterns carved into the surface. The stones sat on a small waterfall cliff and seemed to radiate light from the crevices of their patterns.

I caught a glint of something far above and past the stones, and when I looked, I saw a faint purplish blue orb. Before I could examine it further, it vanished beneath the canopy.

_I'm going to have to take a hike soon…_

I heard footsteps moving away from me, but when I turned to face the exit to the spring, I was already alone. I still had not had the chance to talk to Rusl, which just annoyed me even more.

"_Calm yourself, Zach," _said a wispy voice. It sounded as though the wind was whispering to me, but it seemed to come from the stones. I faced the waterfall cliff and was nearly nose-to-nose with a giant ethereal goat made of light. As is natural for someone confronted by an otherworldly spirit, I did what most sensible people would do in that situation.

I smacked it on the nose and scampered away to the gate, but it was locked, trapping me with a spirit I probably just pissed off. I turned back to the spirit to find it wagging its head in shock. I was scared out of my mind of what the spirit goat would do to me, but even that didn't stop me from taking in its appearance.

It looked like a massive goat, with antlers of solid gold that curved up from two points on its head to meet above in a sort of crown-like arrangement. Within the circle inside the antlers was an orb of shining white light rippling with golden power. Along its back and beaver-like tail were golden patterns that swirled and danced in circular designs along its surface, never losing their luster even in the shade. Instead of hooves as I would expect of a goat, its forelimbs ended in two claw-like digits, while its back limbs simply ended.

Ordona's blank white eyes stared into mine, and it was all I could do not to squirm under its gaze. The Light Spirit trotted (on air) towards me and stopped at the border between its springwater and dry land. It sniffed heavily at me and seemed to shudder at my scent. At first, I thought it found me pungent or repulsive, since I did come from another world full of different smells.

I was half-right.

In the middle of its shudders, Ordona reared its head back and took a deep breath through its mouth. Before I could get a word in, its head lurched forward and sent a stream of light and water blasting into my face. If my hair was longer, I'm sure it would have been blown back like some cartoon.

With narrowed eyes and as straight a face as I could manage, I growled out, "Bless you."

Ordona tilted its head inquisitively and nudged my forehead with its snout. It turned to go back to its spring but stopped and looked at me. I sighed and climbed to my feet as it resumed its trot back to the spring.

"_Lady Din warned me that you were difficult," _said the goat-spirit, _"though I knew not how much."_

"Oh, thank you so much for that bit of character description," I muttered, none too pleased that I was labeled as 'difficult'.

Ordona floated onto the waterfall cliff and turned to me, its face unreadable, though that was probably because I couldn't decipher a goat's face. For all I knew, Ordona was thinking about hay.

After a few minutes of staring at each other, Ordona held up one of its clawed limbs. In its clutches was a small metallic object, barely the size of my hand. It took me a few moments to realize that Ordona was holding my iPhone, with accompanying headphones. With a raised eyebrow, I carefully took the phone from Ordona and pressed its home button. The phone lit up and I saw my usual screen image, the Green Ranger, but when I unlocked the phone and accessed the main screen, I saw that I had only ten apps compared to my previous thirty-five. Gone were all the apps requiring use of the Internet, which made sense seeing as there _was _no Internet in Hyrule. All that remained were Music, Videos, Calculator, Flashlight, Clock, Photos, Camera, Notes, Settings, and Calendar.

"What's this doing here?" I asked the spirit. "It made no sense to have my phone with me in Hyrule, which is why I left it behind in the first place."

"_You are a foolish one,"_ Ordona replied. _"Did you not consider what you would do between battles? Boredom can kill a warrior just as surely as a spear or sword."_

"Good point and I did think of that, but there's the issue of its power supply. Sure, it'd be good for a few hours at the most, but once that battery dies, I'll be left with a useless hunk of plastic."

"_I have altered the device to draw energy from the Light Springs across Hyrule. As long as at least one Light Spring has power, your 'phone' will maintain its battery indefinitely."_

"If you can do all that with just this little piece of plastic, why can't the Goddesses just take care of the main threat?"

"_They are bound by ancient laws and are forbidden from directly interfering in the course of history. The Holy Goddesses have already breeched those laws by contacting you."_

I sat there for a minute, dumbfounded by what Ordona said. Of course, I lacked the foresight to think about other reasons I was given my phone. "They defied their laws to give me a fighting chance?" I asked, and Ordona nodded. "Why?"

"_You are the brightest hope of salvation…for us all."_

I stared blankly into Ordona's equally blank eyes before I muttered, "No pressure."


	6. Light and Shadow

**Author's Note: **Apologies for the long wait. My computer decided to malfunction and delete all the progress I had on this chapter and the next, so I had to rewrite from scratch, and I've been drowning in computer problems ever since. Also, all Twili words, with the exception of Twili and Midna, are basic translations and adaptations of Japanese words, because I wanted to.

* * *

"_Child, tell me," _began the goat spirit. It tilted its porcelain head and asked, _"Why did you insist on leaving so soon?"_

My shoulders sagged in exhaustion and irritation. "Out of all the questions you could ask, you go with why I left three days early? The answer is obvious! I needed all the time I could get for Rusl to train me, and if I left three days later, I'd only have three days to actually learn anything."

"_Your dishonesty shows clearly. Training is only the superficial reason, the curtain over the truth. Why did you leave so early? Was it because you wished to leave your family as soon as possible?"_

I groaned. "Don't get all philosophical on me! My father does that enough as it is."

"_Yet you continue to ignore his wisdom."_

"Wisdom? No, wisdom is suggesting that an ugly duckling is actually a swan. My dad just rambles on about ethics and politics and won't shut up!"

Ordona raised one claw at me and waved a finger. _"You must learn to reign in your temper. You cannot save this world if you cannot save yourself."_

As I was about to retort, I realized it had a point. What good could I be if I was running on fumes the whole time? Was this all that was in store for me later on? To argue and fight with people and deities who just want to live?

"_Return to the village, Young One. These questions need not be answered in haste."_

With a tired sigh, I nodded and turned to the now-unlocked gate, thanks to Rusl standing just outside the threshold. He smiled at me in a compassionate yet amused way and gestured for me to follow him back to the village.

On the way, he handed me a simple white tunic. As I slipped it on, I took note of the wool-like texture and inwardly sighed at the inevitable itchiness that would plague me later on.

"We have a nearby storehouse you could sleep in, if you'd like." I turned to look at Rusl to let him know he had my attention. He sounded like he was not in favor of the idea, but he kept going. "It's fairly spacious, three floors, and a fireplace for cold nights."

I grunted and scratched at my side. "It sounds like it wasn't always a storehouse if it has a fireplace and three floors."

Rusl sighed. "I would prefer for you to stay with me and my family," he continued, avoiding my statement outright, "but it is your choice."

I was tempted by his offer, to have a warm breakfast and meal every day with the promise of good company, but I did not leave one family just to saddle with another.

_Wait, where did that thought come from?_

"I'd like to stay in the storehouse, if that's alright."

He frowned but nodded in resignation as we passed through the bubble area. I saw the village gate, and right next to it was Link's house! Or rather, what _should _have been Link's house. It was barren, with no decorations or even a door, and the ladder was set aside near the practice dummy.

_Practice dummy?_

"I spoke with Ordona this morning, just before you woke up. I have been tasked to teach you the ways of the sword, if you are still willing to learn." I nodded, and he returned the nod. "Once you have your sleeping area and items settled down, meet me out here with your sword."

I nodded and moved the ladder to better access the entrance to the storehouse. I felt coldness in my stomach as I climbed up and stepped past the threshold. The coldness stretched from inside to every inch of my skin as I took in the interior of the building. It was dark and _very _dusty inside, and I could just barely make out the shelves and crates inside.

_This is going to be a _wonderful _stay_, I thought as I moved into the shadows.

* * *

Midna's jaw hung open like a caught fish as she processed the information. She was to go to a foreign land, speak with foreign royalty, and attempt to acquire her people's long-lost relics. How in the Sols was she going to do that? This task was surely just a test to see if she was willing to handle delicate situations with impossible goals. Yes, that was most certainly what they had in mind.

"We request that you depart for Hyrule within the next hour," Queen Yoake said, her voice bringing Midna away from her musings.

The Twilight Princess blinked and promptly replied, "You seriously expect me to go to the Light Realm, speak to a couple of royal stiffs, and get our most powerful magical artifact, in one piece? I'd be ashes before I took the seventh step!"

"Calm yourself, Princess," her father commanded. The chamber rumbled with every word as he spoke. "This is a delicate task and it requires a delicate solution. You cannot be disrespectful or it could mean disaster for our world and theirs."

Midna stood up. "But why do I have to get the Fused Shadows anyway? We've been living just fine without them for several thousand years."

At this, the King was silent. He glanced over to Queen Yoake, who shared the look of concern and apprehension. An exasperated sigh passed from King Naito, followed quickly by his raised arm and pointed finger. "You have your task, child. See to its completion."

The open palm of her mother silenced any further argument from Midna, and so she bowed her head, turned on her heel, and walked as calmly as possible out of the throne room.

Queen Yoake laid a comforting hand on her husband's shoulder as he whispered, "How are you certain she will succeed?"

Yoake merely smiled and squeezed his shoulder lovingly. "I have faith in her. She carries our lineage well. Perhaps…"

A moment passed before Naito lifted a fiery brow and asked, "Perhaps?"

"…Perhaps she will even find the Divine Beast of Legend."

After Midna left the throne room, she headed immediately for Burak's chambers, just down the hall and two lefts and a right from her own room. Burak said she felt well enough to leave the healing chambers the previous night, but Midna was still anxious to see how her lifelong friend was faring. It took close to half an hour before she finally came to Burak's room. The door was open but she could barely see in the pressing shadows. After taking three tentative steps inside, Midna heard soft breathing from the balcony window and moved to it.

There, she spotted Burak sitting on the windowsill with her knees to her chest. Her hair was tied in a ponytail and was the same reddish orange as Midna's hair, with the usual servant robes contrasting with Midna's regal outfit. Without turning her head, Burak whispered, "Hello, Midna."

Midna released a breath she had not realized she was holding and leaned against the wall. "How did you know it was me? Do I smell that bad? Eee hee hee!"

Burak faced her guest and, though she could easily see Midna's forced grin, she felt comforted just by her being there. "Ever since you fell in that mudhole, yes." As Burak slipped off the windowsill, Midna huffed and crossed her arms, cheeks flushed and eyes rolling.

"Slip one time into a pile of uma manure and they'll never let you live it down." Midna muttered as she pushed away from the wall and hugged Burak. "I have good news, Bur: I've been announced as the next in line for the throne."

Burak's embrace tightened to bone-crushing degrees as she congratulated Midna. After several moments of almost no air, Midna finally pushed away and drew in a deep breath. Once she recovered, Midna looked to find Burak staring at her as though she had grown a second head.

"You seem a little blue, Middy," she said. Her words startled Midna since she had forgotten that she was now under a protection spell.

Midna held up her hand to observe it as she answered, "I've been tasked with going to the Light Realm for… diplomatic reasons. This is just from a spell my mother cast so I don't burst into flames or something."

Burak paused and her brow furrowed upward in sadness. "You're… leaving?" She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up into Midna's yellow-and-red eyes, full of concern and compassion.

"Just for a little while. It'll probably take me two days to go through all the rigmarole."

Burak nodded and pulled her stone headband out of her hair, causing the fiery locks to drape serenely over her neck. She pressed the item into Midna's hand and smiled for the first time since Midna arrived that day.

Midna shook her head and offered the trinket back to Burak. "I can't take this, you've had it for years."

"It is my choice to give it to you. I wish you all the luck in the realm." At this, Midna wrapped her arms around Burak and squeezed with all the love and friendship she could give.

There came a knock at the door and the room's occupants turned to see two royal guards just outside the entrance. The guard closest to the princess dipped his head and said, "My Lady Midna, we have been sent to escort you to the portal. If you would come with us, please."

She turned to Burak, who looked sympathetic and gently squeezed her hand. "Go on," said Burak, "I'll be fine. Have a safe journey."

Midna gave her friend one more heartfelt embrace and kissed her cheek goodbye. On her way out, she pulled two thick locks of hair from beneath her cloak, tied them together with the headband and let the braid hang loosely in front of her sternum.

The Twilight Realm shone with a hazy golden glow as Midna and her guardians traversed through the central district just outside the palace. It was almost noon now, and the market vendors were busy with the hustle and bustle of commerce. Several of the nearest shopkeepers had dazzling jewelry of Twilit rubies and emeralds, while further traders carried items of fine shadow silk and even coveted silver tiaras.

The citizens who noticed Midna immediately bowed at the waist and spoke praises of her beauty and kindness. She appreciated their thoughtfulness but began to grow weary of hearing the same compliments over and over. She bowed her head and thanked them as she drew closer to the plateau where the portal resided. By royal decree, the portal was strictly sealed off from all Twili, even royalty, who did not have the express permission of both the King and Queen of Twilight to use the portal.

Midna stepped onto the glowing symbols and turned to face the palace, her home for nineteen years. It was tall and powerful, fitting for the rulers of the Twilight, and Midna had many fond memories of getting lost in its many corridors and hallways. She felt the portal begin its ritual of shining through the Twilight, and she felt the same queasiness and disorientation she remembered seven years ago. She did not need to look down to know that her feet were breaking apart into Twilit squares, nor did she need to think about how she was very nearly killed during her last visit.

As Midna was at last drawn through the portal, she glimpsed an orb of orange light near the palace, on the ceremonial balcony used for sending prisoners and traitors of the Crown to the Nanimo. _That's weird, _she thought. _I never saw orange light there when other prisoners were sent away._ She paid it no more thought as the light around her turned clearer and stronger.

Midna raised her hand to block what she knew was the sunlight and found that the runes emblazoned on her forearms were glowing more brilliantly than before. Once her eyes finally became accustomed to the overwhelming light, she glanced around at her location.

She saw the source of the portal and her peoples' banishment: The Mirror of Twilight. It was a beautiful mirror that truly lived up to its name, for Midna could see the ancient Twili scripture and runes etched into the glowing ethereal glass. Just gazing into the Mirror left Midna in awe of its power, until she felt a cold stickiness along her brow and skin.

She wiped her forehead and discovered that the stickiness was her own sweat, and that caused her eyes to widen. She never sweated before, even after the most tiring games and activities.

_Ten seconds in this realm, I'm already dying, _Midna thought. Her eyes caught the light stairs leading from the Mirror's pedestal up to her own feet, and when she saw that it was in fact solid light, she leapt down from the top of the stairs should the light fade beneath her feet. Once landing, she quickly felt the scorching stone and hopped back and forth into the shade nearby, sighing in relief as her feet cooled off.

"I should have brought shoes…," Midna muttered to no one in particular. The sand felt itchy between her toes and she felt suffocated by the sweltering heat. After a few moments to prepare herself for the sun and sand, she stood and trotted away from the chamber, not noticing the five sets of eyes watching her from high above.

* * *

"How can a storehouse have so much _dust_?" I coughed out, already wheezing from stepping on the rug just inside the entrance. It was so dark inside I almost didn't notice the ladder just to the right. Thankfully, before I took another step, I decided to go 21st century on the house and whipped out my phone. The light shined out and illuminated the ladder and the alcove further ahead of it. I looked up and saw that the ladder led to a bed set up on two sturdy-looking logs nailed into the wall.

Unique as it was, I wasn't willing to risk rolling off the balcony in my sleep and ending this little game prematurely, so I climbed the ladder and tossed the bedding and pillow over the side. That was when I winced at the sheer amount of dust that poofed up like a nuclear explosion, complete with mushroom cloud.

I returned to the ground floor and aimed my phone to the wall opposite the bed, and was only mildly surprised to find large boxes stacked up against the wall, with a worn dresser between the stack and the door. Speaking of the door, I noticed that there were two hooks set parallel to each other just above the entranceway, most likely to set up a coat of arms, or maybe, if it were modern times, a gun or some—

_A GUN!_

Everything halted as I stared into empty space. It never occurred to me until that very moment that I could have brought a gun with me and save me the trouble of learning archery!

"_**SON OF A BI—"**_

* * *

As she floated down from the tower the Mirror resided in, Midna heard a strange, shrill sound echoing in the distance. "What the Jigoku is that noise?" she asked no one.

As he sat upon his throne of gold and bronze, an ashen warrior stirred from his brooding and looked around the dark chamber. "What in the name of Hades is that noise?" he asked no one.

As they entered their rundown apartment with groceries, an engineer and his pilot companion looked at each other in bewilderment. "Isaac, what the hell is that noise?" the pilot asked.

As he drifted through yet another dream from within his chemically induced slumber, a green-armored soldier stirred slightly as he fired an illusory rifle. "What the hell is that noise?" he asked no one.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I need your opinion: Should I just write what happens with Midna next and skip Zach's interactions with the village, or write both?


	7. Eyes in the Dark

It was only five minutes since she left the Mirror chamber, yet Midna was already regretting her lack of preparation. Instead of climbing down the tower through the nearby stairs, it was more time conserving to simply levitate to the ground far below, but after that, Midna quickly discovered this strange orange place was very unforgiving on her bare feet.

She considered levitating out of the area but decided against it, for even though she clearly saw the top few spires of a castle, the distance was far too great to cross. Already, the borders of her vision were blurring and her back and neck were drenched in sweat. If only there were shade nearby, but the closest thing to "shade" were tiny shrubs that could not possibly help Midna.

_Maybe I can warp to the castle, _she thought. It seemed a long shot but it would cost her much less energy than levitating or walking. The distant location was most likely not the home of Hyrule's King and Queen, but it would at least provide an opportunity to practice the warp spell.

Midna searched around for a relatively close tall rock or structure to provide her with a better view of the castle, but she found only the remains of some sort of plaque to her left and a dried up well far on the right. With a huff, she willed herself to levitate up and onto a set of boulders nearly half a mile away.

The spell took its toll as she breathed in deep and slow to recuperate, but the new vantage point was much more than what she expected. The boulders were positioned just before an enormous chasm that spanned nearly the entire plateau, but in the distance far across the gorge, Midna saw the castle, but her eyes were drawn to the sheer amount of _green _that surrounded the building. Green was not a stranger to her eyes, for it was the color used in the magics of the palace and jewelry, but never had she seen rolling hills seemingly made of nothing _but _green.

A trickle of sweat rolled into her eye and ended her stupor. It was time to focus, for the heat was becoming almost too much. She saw, or rather, perceived through her magic that there were many balconies and landings on the walls of the castle, but it was still too far to warp with any amount of accuracy.

_If only there was a mesa or some rocks or…_

Her thoughts trailed off as she spotted exactly what she was looking for; a large, flat-topped stone set near the edge closest to the castle. Rather than spending energy levitating to the structure, she decided to utilize the warp spell.

_Now if I could just remember how it went, _she wondered. It had been years since she actually used the spell, but old habits die hard. She closed her eyes and stretched her perception out to the stone she was aiming for. Her senses took over her consciousness and willed her being to be on the stone, and she felt herself disintegrate in a shroud of Twilit particles, as though she was turning into air.

The tunnel Midna had torn open to warp herself was cool, a much needed comfort to her heat-laced body, and it carried her through with such swiftness that she almost did not realize she had exited the tunnel, except the heat from the sun returned with vigor. Despite the reheat, Midna's energy was relatively intact, much more than if she had levitated.

Turning to the castle, she found that the view was much better, especially compared to her previous location. Though the distance was still considerable, Midna could now sense the balconies and lofts with greater accuracy. In fact, she noticed one balcony stood out from the rest. This one was larger and she could sense a greater amount of décor and substance, and she could feel two hearts beating inside the room that was connected to that balcony.

_Probably not Hyrule Castle or wherever they live, but it's a start, _she thought with an impish grin.

* * *

I was a little surprised that absolutely no one came to check up on me after my outburst, but I figured someone would ask on his or her own time. It was only five minutes since I realized my mistake but it still stung to think that I could have brought a pistol at the least, but the damn thought never occurred to me.

_Of course not, why would it? That would be convenient._

At last, I dragged myself up from the floor and picked up the bedding, then shook it vigorously and tried to ignore the dust that floated out. I aimed my phone to the alcove I saw earlier and noticed it had a ladder, so I dropped the bedding and headed for it.

_Maybe that chest full of rupees is still there, _I wondered as I climbed down. It was pitch black down in that alcove, so dark that it was easy to notice the pair of blue eyes staring right at me through the blackness. It startled me out of common sense, and I approached the eyes and saw that they were coming closer as well.

I don't know how but I managed to avoid bumping my knee against anything on my way to the eyes, and when the eyes and I stood as close as possible, the eyes winked at me. I finally snapped out of the trance and turned on my phone, but nearly dropped it when I saw that the pair of eyes was my own reflected through a mirror.

A cold shiver ran up my spine as I inspected the mirror, but there was nothing peculiar about it; a silver mirror and nothing more. I shook off the shiver and turned to investigate the rest of the cel- _basement_, I watched horror movies enough times to know to _never _call this room the cellar. It was filled almost entirely to the ceiling with boxes and crates and left almost no room for anything else, except for the chest just beside the mirror.

"Ah, there you are," I whispered, and with several swift steps, I knelt before the chest and tugged on the lid, but it wouldn't budge. I pulled and pulled, but the damn thing was sealed shut. _You aren't getting away from me, _I thought as I gave one last mighty tug.

The lid flipped open with such suddenness that I fell onto my back and knocked the wind out of me. "Son of a bitch," I groaned and sat up, then leaned over to see the contents of the chest. There were a few trinkets inside, like a pair of kid-sized brown boots, a leather bandolier not unlike Farore's, a cracked ocarina, and a small lantern.

I took the lantern and closed the chest, which clicked loudly as I walked away and climbed up the ladder. As I stepped onto the wooden main floor and pocketed my phone, I heard giggling and childish whispers just outside. A hand to my forehead, I tromped over to see who my visitors were and what they wanted.

* * *

"_Sleep, my child,_

_Go to sleep, my child,_

_Dream sweet dreams of golden times."_

The soothing lullaby echoed down the grand halls of Hyrule Castle, sung by a beautifully serene and peaceful voice only a mother could possess. Her name was Zelda, and she wore a flowing white dress topped with a violet gown, both laced with gold trimmings. Her light brown hair flowed elegantly along her back, as she cradled a child, no more than three years old, with matching brown hair, to sleep for her afternoon nap.

"_Dream, my child,_

_Sweet dreams, my child,_

_Rest your weary eyes."_

The child yawned and snuggled deeper into her mother's bosom, the entire world outside tuned out and out of focus. Zelda pressed her lips against the soft locks of her sleepy daughter and continued the lullaby, sitting down in a small but comfortable chair as she did so. Nearby sat a crib lined with sky blue linens and blankets and a mobile adorned with trinkets of heroes and magical creatures.

"_Waltz under moonlit trees,_

_Sail all the wondrous seas,_

_Give into all your dreams,_

_And sleep."_

The child gazed up with dreamy blue-green eyes at her mother and reached out to hold her chin, but stopped and began to whimper at something that, were she old enough, she could not identify. All she knew was that she was unhappy, and that was all that mattered to her. Zelda smiled and gently shushed her child with a finger to her lips.

"_Sleep, my child,_

_Go to sleep, my child._

_Have no fear,_

_I'm here by your side."_

The child gave a final whine and then drifted at last into blissful slumber, accompanied by a tiny thumb stuck between her gums. Her mother leaned over and laid the child into her crib, still singing that heavenly tune. Pulling the linen up to cover the toddler's small form, she lowered her head and planted a loving kiss on her forehead.

"_Dream, my child,_

_Sweet dreams, my child,_

_Keep your hopes alive._

_Drift through the open sky,_

_Wings spread and spirits high,_

_Wave as the clouds go by,_

_And Sleep."_

The lullaby completed, Zelda retreated slowly to the balcony and closed the door softly behind her. Her white-gloved hands rested on the railing as she smiled out to her kingdom below.

"How sentimental," said an eerie voice somewhere behind her. She spun on her heel and locked her blue eyes with two yellow and red orbs lurking in the shadows. "You know, I haven't been this choked up since I got a hunk of _moussaka _caught in my throat!"

A raised brow was Zelda's only response. The speaker sighed and stepped into the light, revealing a tall thin woman with the most unusual pale blue skin that almost seemed to glisten in the afternoon sunlight. She wore a hooded black cloak that had a light teal interior, a long black sarong, and dark, almost black, patches of clothing on her chest and left leg, leaving her naval and right leg bare and exposed. Her hair was fiery orange, wrapped in a braid just below her collarbones, though her eyebrows were black and majestically framed her eyes. The feature that caught the most attention was the glowing inscriptions on the stranger's forearms and right thigh.

Despite her dark visage and piercing eyes, the stranger gave off no malignant intentions, only slight amusement and curiosity. The two women stared at each other for nearly five minutes until the dark one spoke again.

"You wouldn't happen to know the King and Queen of Hyrule, would you?" she asked in that ghostly-echoed voice.

After a slight pause, Zelda straightened and replied, "Perhaps. What business is it of you?"

The stranger flashed a grin and raised her arms. "Oh, nothing much. A cup of tea, maybe some books, the Fused Shadows, nothing important."

"Why do you seek the Fused Shadows? Who are you?"

The stranger giggled and took an overdramatic curtsy. "Name's Midna, at your service." There was another long pause before 'Midna' spoke again. "I told you my name, so tell me yours. Fair's fair, after all."

Zelda folded her hands in front of her and answered, "I am Zelda, Queen of Hyrule."

_Are all Light Dwellers this…tan? _Midna thought. She stood a good eight inches over Zelda, but she felt as though she was only three and a half feet tall. The Queen's commanding presence and grace complimented her own brash humor and nonchalant demeanor.

Midna was also mildly surprised that she found the Queen so quickly. She figured it would have taken at least a day to find her, but she was not complaining. Zelda certainly fit the Queen notion well, at least from what Midna could gather from her own mother. _Speaking of mothers…, _Midna thought.

"Cute kid in there. She looks almost, what, three years old?"

Queen Zelda raised one eyebrow and Midna noticed her jaw clench. "Do you wish harm upon her?"

Midna put a hand to her chest in a genuine display of surprise and a little hurt. "I would _never _hurt a child." The tone in her voice caused Zelda to tense up her shoulders but relax her jaw, as though it was just what she wanted to hear. Before either could make any more conversation, a bead of sweat rolled into Midna's eye. "Can we go inside? It's a little warm out here."

Zelda eyed her for another moment and then nodded. "Please keep your voice down, Jun only just fell asleep." Midna nodded in return and then entered the room, mouth slightly open at the amount of color present.

"Perhaps we should speak elsewhere," whispered Zelda. She leaned down and gently placed a kiss on Jun's cheek, then silently stepped out of the room, Midna following. Zelda took note of the almost envious look Midna gave to Jun, but pressed onward. The hall was empty, and Midna was thankful for that. The less she interacted with these Light Dwellers, the better. It was a relatively short walk from the nursery to Zelda's own room, and the carpet was doing wonders on Midna's feet.

Queen Zelda held the door open for her dark guest, who entered promptly and sighed in what sounded like relief. Zelda noticed a particular glyph just above the inscriptions on Midna's thigh, and her mind began searching for where she had seen that symbol before.

She must have stood there for a while, as Midna shifted the balls of her feet and tilted her head. "See something you like?" she asked with a lifted brow.

Zelda stirred from her musings and dipped her head as she closed the door behind her. "Forgive me," she said. "I was lost in thought. You sought me out, and I wish to know why."

Midna nodded and sat down in the nearby chair, her dark clothes and blue skin contrasting with the lush red and gold of the seat. "Like I said, I need the Fused Shadows for… certain reasons, shall we say?"

It clicked in Zelda's head why Midna's symbol looked familiar. All the pieces fit perfectly into place and she knew exactly what to do. "Come with me," was all she said before she glided through the room, past the bed, and into a hallway connecting the bedroom to what looked like a small armory.

Hanging on the walls were various shields and weapons, all aged and worn from battles long past. There must have been three shields, all similarly designed with a blue backdrop and red bird, and several different weapons such as longswords and spears, along with suits of armor standing imperiously on mannequins.

Zelda stepped swiftly over to one specific set of armor: a golden chest plate with matching gauntlets and boots, all of which were cracked and dented in places. Sitting atop the suit was a helmet whose three horns stood out on the left and right cheeks of the faceguard and atop the crown. Zelda tugged on the nearby wall torch and stood back as the wall shifted and moved to the side.

Midna was still admiring one of the shields when she felt Zelda gently touch her shoulder and say, "Please follow me. I will take you to the Fused Shadows."

"Wait, you're just handing them over, just like that?" asked Midna as they walked into the dimly lit tunnel. Midna had no trouble seeing in the dark and Zelda seemed to know where she was going, so they both moved with speed.

"I had a dream several nights ago," Zelda began. "In it, this golden land of Hyrule was bathed in a dim and bleak darkness. A large sigil, exactly like the symbol on your leg, emerged from the shadows and with it was the Fused Shadows, and as the sigil approached, the darkness faded away. I did not understand its meaning until you appeared. It is clear to me now that you are meant to possess the Fused Shadows."

"You're putting an awful lot of faith in a dream, aren't you?"

"Sometimes, faith in a dream is all one needs."

They walked together in silence until at last they emerged into a large antechamber, filled with strange and wondrous items such as a mask of a white-haired warrior, a conductor's baton, and even an old and faded sailcloth. Zelda walked past all the artifacts and into a small hallway that seemed to end suddenly. She held up her right hand and whispered something foreign to Midna's ears, and the wall faded away to reveal what Midna had never seen before but could clearly identify as though she knew them all her life: The Fused Shadows.

* * *

"Halt, who goes there?" I asked in a bored drone. Three sets of eyes shot up and stared at me, and if they weren't children, I would have felt intimidated. I recognized the kid who tried to shoot down that hawkling as Talo, and the other two as Beth and Malo.

Beth wore dark purple pants that ended and bunched at her knees, a matching light purple waistband tied with a white sash, and a white sleeveless shirt. Her eyes were sky blue and stared at me with both fear and wonder and her thin nose was topped with freckles. Her hair seemed reminiscent of the Power Puff Girls' Buttercup, only Beth's hair was light brown like Ilia and topped with a little red bow.

The squirt, Malo, standing between the rock-thrower and girl was tiny, to say the least. Malo barely reached up to the other boy's shoulder, and his dark brown hair was tied back in a bun. He wore an orange skirt that was too long for him, a green waistband wrapped with a burgundy belt, and yet another white tunic.

"Ugh, kids," I muttered as I climbed down the ladder and stood straight with arms crossed. It wasn't that I didn't like kids, but they had a tendency to make noise, smell, induce headaches, smell, do stupid things, smell.

"Why'd you climb up that tree, mister?" asked Beth, who stood as tall as she could at a little more than four feet, with her hands placed snootily on her hips. I knew right then and there that we were not going to get along.

"Because I'm part monkey, kid."

"I'm not a kid, I'm eleven years old!" she cried and stuck her arms straight down in that annoying 'I'm upset and I want a cookie!' pose.

"You must be so proud." The eleven-year-old promptly snapped her jaw shut and I inwardly smirked. Talo and Malo both snickered but hushed under Beth's intense glare.

"So what can I do for you squirts today?" I asked.

Beth and Talo both fumed but Malo chuckled and nudged Beth's knee. "Father told us to deliver this to you, since you so graciously left it at the mayor's house," he said as Talo and Beth pulled up my wooden sword from…somewhere. I'm still trying to figure out where they were hiding it.

I slowly walked over and then stopped in front of them. Talo and Beth retreated slightly but Malo stood still, until I shot my hand out and snatched the sword up before they could react.

I held the sword by my waist and said, "Now that I have this, you can run along and play or something." I turned to go back into the storehouse but stopped and pointed the sword at Talo. "And you, stop throwing rocks at hawk nests."

"But it was fun—" _Bonk! _A small stone bouncing off his head interrupted his sentence. "Ow! What was that for?!"

I shrugged and answered, "It was fun." There was soft laughter somewhere behind me, and when I turned, I saw yet another child hiding near the base of the storehouse. He wore a similar outfit to Malo, only his skirt was dark green and the waistband was silver. He had blonde hair that parted down the middle, and I knew that this kid was Colin.

I raised my arms in mock surrender and said, "Oh no, I am surrounded." Colin smiled kindly at me and waved, which caught me by surprise. "Kid, I'm right here, you don't have to wave at me."

"He's not waving at you," said a familiar voice. I turned and found Rusl standing there with his sheathed sword strung across his back with his arms looped over it. He nodded once to the kids and smiled up at me. "I see you've become acquainted with the children. Malo, Talo, Beth, your parents are waiting." The aforementioned kids took one last glance at me and trudged out of sight through the village gate.

I noticed that Colin stayed behind and when I eyed him, he blushed and ran to his father's side. Rusl laid a calm hand on Colin's shoulder and said, "I hope you don't mind young Colin staying to watch a warrior in training."

I raised an eyebrow but shrugged and shook my head. "Not at all," I said. "Let's get started."

* * *

**Author's Note: **I would like to credit ellebirdy23 of Newgrounds for the lyrics to the lullaby, though I have tweaked them somewhat.


	8. It Begins

**Author's Note: **Apologies for the long delay. Had some medical issues to sort out.

Forewarning: This will be my first action scene, so it will be clunky. It irritates me how I can picture a glorious battle of gods and men, yet I can just barely write, "Sword goes here, fist goes there." And to be clear, Rusl's sword remains in its scabbard during training.

Moreover, Zelda may seem OOC here, but please keep in mind that she is the keeper of Wisdom, not Courage, so she won't (nor should be able to as effectively in source material) handle frightening or weird things well. Sure, Wisdom can tell you _what _to do when the shit hits the fan, but what good does that do when you're too shocked or scared to do it?

* * *

Rusl charged at me, his sheathed sword parallel to the ground. A horizontal slash, easily blockable by a vertical pivot. I made the necessary movements and continued with a downward strike. He defended and retorted with an elbow strike to my jaw.

I staggered back but used my position and momentum to make a headbutt, connecting with his cheek. Using his disorientation to my advantage, I snaked my arm around his and swung him into the practice dummy. The construction was stronger than I expected since it merely shook against his weight. He launched himself at me and gripped one arm around my neck and the other arm around my own, catching me in a headlock.

I refused to give up, so I contracted my stomach and flipped him over my back. He landed with a resounding thud and coughed out a laugh. He bucked his knees into his chest, pressed his hands above his shoulders, and kicked upward, landing on his feet. The older fighter thrust his sword at me but I deflected with a downward parry from my wooden sword and rammed my shoulder into his unprotected chest.

That maneuver was a mistake, as I quickly realized when he caught me in a bear hug and tossed me over his back. The ground gave me a nice big kiss on the mouth as I tumbled down and hit one of the gateposts. Before I could get up and attack, Rusl pinned me by holding my arms behind me.

Blood rushed to my ears as I heard him chuckle and say, "Not bad! You're definitely farther along than I thought. I was worried I'd have to teach you the basics." He let go and patted my shoulder as he waved Colin over. "Not bad at all. Son, what did you notice about our little spat?"

The boy dug his foot into the dirt as he looked sheepishly around. "Well… you both used your bodies more than your swords…," he received an encouraging nod from his father. "Neither of you tried to hit the bad spot…," Rusl laughed and nodded again. "And… Um…," he hesitated and his cheeks grew red.

"And," I finished for him, "he pulled his punches."

Rusl offered me a hand up and I accepted. We shook hands as he smiled at me and nodded. "Don't want to hurt you too bad on your first day."

"Rusl, Colin, time for dinner!" a loving voice called from past the gate. I turned and saw what could only be Uli, Rusl's wife and Colin's mother, heavily pregnant with her second child. She was dressed in the same style as the rest of the village with a white tunic, dark pants, and wide sash over her engorged belly.

Uli walked up to us and kissed Rusl's cheek. "Is this the young man Pergie has been talking about?"

I nodded and offered my hand. "I'm Zach, pleased to meet you, ma'am."

"Uli, and the pleasure is all mine."

"I'd very much like for you to have dinner with us tonight," he smiled warmly at me. "You seem like a very intelligent young man, it would be good for you to have a nice home-cooked meal."

Fighting off a sigh, I smiled back and nodded. "I'd love to."

* * *

The Fused Shadow was…honestly not what Midna was expecting. It certainly resembled ancient Twilian artifacts as she saw in the palace's armory and collections of antiques, with runic scripture and twin serpents carved into the grayish-black stone, yet the item was barely the size of Midna's fist. The relic hovered ominously in a column of blue-green light. It appeared to be a helmet, or some fashion of headgear at least, with twin horns along the crown and a malevolent left eye peering dead ahead. The right eye and beneath seemed to have been broken off long ago, most likely when the Goddesses banished the ancient Twilian ancestors to the Twilight Realm.

The relic certainly seemed intimidating, with its blank stare and runes etched into its surface, but its size was incredibly demeaning. Midna worried that if she gripped the relic hard enough, she would crush the Fused Shadow into powder.

"This was easier than I thought," said Midna. "Maybe while I'm here, I can see if that Divine Beast thing was just a legend or not."

"Divine Beast?"

"Eh, just some old story I grew up with about some pure-hearted person who was protected from evil by taking the form of a sacred beast. I think it's just some yōsei tale but…"

She took a step forward, and the artifact snapped to attention, facing her directly, the orb where the two serpents joined glowing like a Sol.

The Twilight Princess and the Queen of Hyrule both froze under the Fused Shadow's piercing gaze, one mesmerized by the magic pulsating from it, the other defensive and holding three thin daggers between her knuckles.

"Huh? You say something?" Midna asked. Her companion eyed her and slowly shook her head. "Thought I heard some—"

The Fused Shadow darted from its place in the column of light and into her open hand before she could finish her sentence.

"Take care, Midna," warned Zelda. "It is layered with dark magic."

Midna rolled her eyes and bit back a retort, instead only thinking; _Of course, she _would_ have that mentality._

"**They have no grasp of true power…,"**whispered a tiny voice in the back of Midna's mind. She was about to nod and voice her agreement but stopped when she realized what the voice just said. **"You could have simply destroyed her, and this prison in which We are kept…,"**

"We…?" she whispered.

"**We can give you anything you wish, O Child of Our Makers… All you desire, We can grant…,"**

Midna felt herself drawn to the offer. Anything she desired, she could have. She could save Burak's child! She could prove that she was worthy of the throne. She could finally seek retribution from the Light Dwellers. She could gain control of this realm, take the Power of the Goddesses, and—

"_No!_" she bellowed. Zelda instinctively aimed a knife right at Midna's heart, but held herself back at the look of fright on her guest's face. "That is not what I want and you can't make me want it."

There was a cold silence in the room, with Midna holding the miniscule Fused Shadow and Zelda armed with her daggers. The glowing orb on the relic dimmed slightly as it processed a suitable response.

"**Very well, Daughter of Twilight… why are We being removed from this prison now, of all times, and how are We to be used?"**

"I don't plan on using you. I was sent here to get you and now I can go back and call it a day."

"**Brave, if not foolish… Your task is not yet complete… Surely, you noticed Our…deplorable state… We are incomplete, Our body scattered across this Light Realm…"**

Midna sighed. "I'm sure my pa…," she spared a glance at Zelda, who looked as though she was about to slash Midna's throat at the slightest twitch. "Peers would understand me coming home with a fragment of a long-lost relic from a battle that raged ages ago. Besides, they only said I have to talk to the rulers of this realm and get the Fused Shadow from them, and here we are."

"If you've quite finished!" cried Zelda, breaking her calm façade after the display of Midna speaking to no one in particular. "You have your prize and so I respectfully request you to leave. _Now_."

Midna knew it was not a request, but did not want to cause any more trouble than necessary. She nodded and prepared to open a portal back to the mesa she first arrived on, since she knew where to go and how far to project her magic. She winked at Zelda and said, "Eee hee hee! See you later!"

* * *

As Uli poured a bowl of soup, she asked, "What brings you this far from your home, Zach?" She set the bowl onto the table and went to pour another. "You make it sound as though you were worlds away."

_Oh, if you only knew. _"I've heard a lot of stories about Hyrule, and when a very unique opportunity showed up, I took it and here I am." I waited politely for Uli to sit down and see if there were any pre-dinner rituals like prayer or Grace or something. When they started eating, I followed suit, marveling at the taste of chicken and cheese. "This is delicious!" I said after swallowing the first spoonful.

I was glad I decided to have dinner with Rusl and his family. I didn't want to have to use one of my own food rations before I camped out in the wilderness. A shudder ran up my spine as I thought about what the outside world would be like. I did not look forward to sleeping in itchy grass or clumps of dirt and sharp rocks. Maybe I could salvage some supplies from the storeroom for a tent…

"Zach, is something wrong?" I shook out of my thoughts and found Uli and Rusl eyeing me with concern.

"No, I'm fine." Another spoonful of soup. "I was just thinking."

"How long are you staying?" chirped Colin. He ducked his head low and averted eye contact, even after Rusl gently patted his back.

I hummed and held my chin. "Probably a few months. I'd like to see Hyrule Castle and the surrounding locales."

Rusl and Uli smiled as they ate, while Colin seemed slightly confused. "Didn't you see the castle on your way here?" he asked. My spoon hand froze just in front of my lips. "Father told me anyone could see the castle no matter where they are in the kingdom." _This kid is smarter than I gave him credit for. _"How did you get here anyway?" This kid was not going to let this go!

For a few seconds, I seriously considered telling them the truth, that the Golden Goddesses visited me and chose me to go on a great quest. It would take some pressure off to have people understand that what they tasked me to do was more important than herding goats or seeing the sights. On the other hand, could they keep this a secret? Would they think I was crazy and send me away to fend for myself in the wilderness?

"What's that on your hand?" Uli asked. She was staring at my right hand as though it had grown an extra finger (again). I peered down to find something emblazoned on the back of my hand, a symbol that I was not expecting to see _at all._

On the back of my hand was the symbol of the Goddesses: The Triforce, with all three triangles faded and dull. I dropped the spoon and stood up, knocking the chair over.

"Thank you for the dinner, it was delicious, but I have to go."

"But—"

I ran out of the house before they could question it any further. I _had _to get out of there and find out why this was here. It was almost twilight as I sprinted past my temporary house, through the forested passage, and finally came to Ordona's spring.

"Ordona, explain to me why I have _this _on the back of my hand!" The spring was dim and quiet, just like the forest that surrounded it. "Ordona! Are you there?" Again, no answer. Out of frustration, I threw a rock into the water and kicked the sand.

"Zach?" a quiet voice called behind me. I spun around and saw Ilia standing there, a basket of bread in her arms. "Are you alright?"

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair before finally spitting out, "No, I'm not! I'm confused, disoriented, I have this mark on my hand, and Ordona isn't giving me any answers! Why me? Why did They choose _me_ of all people?!"

Ilia stayed put, obviously frightened at the display of anger, but she seemed to want to say something. She stepped forward and laid a hand on my shoulder as she said, "What is wrong with your mark? Can I see it?" She looked at my hand and tried to hold in a gasp. "That is a sacred mark, bestowed on those—"

"I _know _what it is! My question is _why _I have it! Aren't these kinds of things supposed to happen to people that everybody likes? Heroes, princesses, knights, all that crap!"

She bit her lip and asked, "Why do you believe you are not a hero?"

I was just about to tell her exactly why I wasn't a hero, but I stopped. Ilia was just trying to help, she didn't need to be afraid of the person she was helping. Well, _more _afraid of the person, anyway.

"Perhaps the Goddesses see the hero you can become?" she asked with hope. "I think they are trying to guide you to what you could be one day."

_Great, more people trying to control my life. _I took a deep breath and gestured to her basket. "What's that for?"

"Hm? Oh! This is…," she blushed and nudged the basket towards me. "I made you some pumpkin bread. It's sort of my way of welcoming you to our village."

I chuckled and gently took the basket from her. "Thank you." I took a whiff of the pumpkin bread and sighed deeply. "That smells heavenly." Because I was _so_ sharp with my manners, it seemed rude to just take the basket and leave, so I asked, "Would you like to have some with me?"

The look in her eyes was one I hadn't seen in a long time, and the way she nodded told me she would have liked nothing more. We quietly walked back to the storehouse and made our way inside. I used the light from my phone to illuminate the way to the stack of blankets I pillaged from the crow's nest bed. I plopped down and waited for Ilia, who was tinkering with the lantern I left on one of the boxes. After a few moments, warm orange-red light glowed from the wick, and she carried the lantern over and set it off to the side.

"What is that you used to make light? I've never seen a lantern like that before."

"This," I held up my phone, "is called a phone. Where I come from, people use these to talk to other people across very large distances. It has a lot of uses, like marking dates," the blush in her cheeks did not escape me, "making notes, tracking the time, and, as you've seen, making light when I need it."

"Phone…," she sounded out. It seemed to feel weird for her to say that, but it was a foreign word, after all. "What else can it do?"

"Well, it can play music, take pictures—"

"Pictograms?"

"Sort of, but these look better. See," I opened up my Photos app and showed her a picture of a younger girl and me. "This is me, obviously, and here is my cousin, Carolyn. We were at a… a festival, and she won a contest, which is why she has that blue ribbon."

"I see," she whispered and scrawled her finger over the picture, accidentally changing it to one of two men shaking hands. "Who are they?"

"The one on the left, with the mustache, is my dad. The other one is my brother Alex. Alex just went into the army then, and this was his going away party."

"Your brother is a knight?"

I chuckled and shrugged. "Sort of. We don't call them knights, we call them soldiers."

"Does your King still give them high honors?"

"Uh, we don't call him our king, but if they do great deeds of heroism and courage, yes. We call our leader the President."

"Prez-e-dent?"

"Heh, close enough." I set down the phone and looked to see that our faces were fairly close to each other. I could smell the faint hint of pine in her hair, see her teal eyes gazing into mine, and hear her heart beat in her chest. I knew what she was hoping for, but it was not the time, place, or mood for it. Instead, I turned away and pulled off a small piece of pumpkin bread. After popping the morsel in my mouth, my eyes widened at the taste. It was so savory that I almost wished I didn't invite her to have some with me.

It almost stung me when I heard her sigh softly in disappointment.

Almost.

* * *

Once the disorientation of warping passed, Midna sat down on a stone bench just outside the mirror chamber. It was dusk now, layering the sky in a familiar golden hue. She watched the sun go down and admired the beauty of her natural land peeking through into this world. Deep down, she admitted that Hyrule had its own beauty to it, with its bright blue sky, green hills, and clear waters. It could not compare to the Twilight Realm, of course, but it was a sight to see.

Tucking the Fused Shadow away was simple enough. All Midna had to do was create a space where she could store the artifact and retrieve it easily. It called to her one last time, pleading that she use its power, but she knew better. It was definitely not a tool to use carelessly, especially by someone of royal blood. That situation already happened, the result of which was the relic's banishment to begin with.

After the sun faded below the horizon, Midna dusted herself off and approached the Mirror of Twilight, its runes glowing in the dark. She stood on the pedestal and watched in amazement as a great portal carved into the great black stone, seemingly into infinity and beyond. She stepped up to the circle of light from whence she first emerged, and felt the familiar sensation of being scattered into pieces and flung across the void.

When it was over, Midna looked around but was slightly surprised that there were no guards there to escort her back to the palace. In fact, there seemed to be a cold emptiness around the courtyard. Even at this time, there were always some peddlers who sought to make bargains with passersby. There was no one here, and that unnerved Midna.

The Twilight Princess walked cautiously through the barren marketplace and into the palace entrance, where there seemed to be signs of struggle. She saw dark spatters and broken pieces of armor and fabric laying here and there, yet no body to see if it was a riot or random attack.

Her nerves becoming more and more frayed, Midna quickly moved through the palace, coming across more blood spatters along the way. She stopped just outside the throne room to collect her breath and slow her heart, but that was for naught when she heard muffled voices and the telltale sound of Twilian magic. She ran into the chamber but instantly regretted it when she saw her mother held by the throat by a creature Midna had only seen in storybooks.

It was animalistic, with a hunched back, slithering black tendrils on its masked head, and tribal runes carved into its midnight skin. The shadow beast turned to face the new occupant of the room and promptly dropped Queen Yoake, who crumpled to the floor like a wilted flower.

"Midna…," the Queen coughed out, rubbing her blackened throat. "You must run!"

"Mother, who did this?" Midna demanded as she summoned an orb of Twili energy. She threw it at the shadow beast and expected it to blow apart, but all it did was dent the creature's mask.

"Zant!" her mother answered, though her voice sounded much deeper than it ought to be. Midna gazed at her to see her body starting to change into that of a shadow beast. Queen Yoake's hands engorged and blackened, her hair charred and slicked into tendrils, and her eyes dimmed to empty black sockets. The new shadow beast roared and charged at Midna, who stood frozen with terror at the monstrosity that was now her mother.


End file.
